Into the Belly of the Beast
by Jasien
Summary: After the Turks failed to capture Aerith at her church, she runs home only to find another ambush waiting for her. Left with nowhere to run and little to no fighting abilities, the Cetra decides to hide in plain sight by joining the Shinra army while disguising herself as a guy. CC AU.
1. The Decision

**Notes:** Hello dear reader, this is my first fanfic so please be patient with me as I am still trying to improve my writing. Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoy it enough to continue on to the next chapters :) If you are interested in a more detailed summary of what this story is about, please visit my profile. I didn't include any spoilers.

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Aerith lived a life of peaceful routine. Each morning, she went to an abandoned church to tend to her flowers. Once there was an overflowing abundance, she carefully plucked them out and put them into a basket to sell. It was a way to brighten up the dreary slums and earn a little extra gil.

"Thanks a lot!" the flower girl waved as she bade goodbye to a customer who just purchased one of her flowers. _Wow, what a long day_ , she thought to herself. _At least I made a lot of gil this time._

Having sold her last flower, Aerith decided to make her way back to the abandoned church. It was not a long walk so she took her time getting there, happily humming on the way as she swung her braid from side to side with every step. She took in the dilapidated surrounding as she walked. Occasionally, she would see some of her sold flowers peeking out of store windows, but unfortunately, today most stores had their windows covered by a Shinra poster. Apparently, it was that time of the year again where Shinra promoted their army. They posted these notices all over the continent hoping to find strong candidates to try out for the Shinra army. Aerith momentarily frowned at this and continued on her way.

Once Aerith arrived to her church, she noticed the door was slightly ajar but paid no mind to it assuming she must have just forgotten to close up when she left in the morning. She took one step in but froze in place as she saw the familiar face of Reno with six Shinra guards on either side of him.

Reno had been assigned to "capture" Aerith and take her back to the Shinra headquarters some years ago but he had never managed to do so. Unlike Tseng, the Turk assigned to her before, Reno never seemed to take his job too seriously. He always somehow managed to make a suit look cheap even in the slums. Reno never wore a tie, had his shirt wrinkled, tucked out, and never fully buttoned. His perpetually messy long red spiky hair didn't help much either. This kind of laziness had also trickled into his job performance. Many times, Reno showed up with only one or two Shinra guards who only ever chased her for one or two block before giving up. Sometimes he himself would be the only one in attendance and not even bother to run after her, so seeing him the way that he was today was disconcerting for Aerith. Instead of a lazy lopsided sided smile on his face, she saw a dark smirk, and instead of one or two inexperienced Shinra guards, she saw six fully armed troopers.

Reno was stooping over the flowerbed on the cracked floor when she came in. He unceremonious straightened up and simply said, "Hey there, cutie pie. I've been waiting for you."

Aerith didn't wait for another warning. She immediately bolted, running in the opposite direction. She heard him call out, "Don't let her escape!" as the guards began chasing after her.

Having run from Shinra for so many years, Aerith had become a very fast runner. It wasn't long before she had disappeared from their sight as the slid between people and turned into corners here and there. Peering over her shoulder, Aerith realized they were no longer on her tail and slowed down to a jogging speed.

 _They never brought that many soldiers before. Why now?_ she mentally asked herself. _I have to get home and see if Mom is okay._

She picked up her speed once again and turned the corner into the path that led to her house. A sigh of relief escaped her as she saw that that her house from a distance. It had been undisturbed. Just as Aerith was about to close the distance between her and the front door, her foster mother, Elmyra burst through the door in a panic.

"Aerith, run! It isn't safe here anymore!" called Aerith's foster mother as she held back a Shinra guard from exiting through the door.

"Get the Ancient!" a bald tan man ordered as he pushed Elmyra to the side.

"Mom!" Aerith cried out as she saw Elmyra being pushed to the floor.

It was an ambush! Aerith recognized that bald man as well. He and Reno were best friends but Rude rarely visited. Unlike his friend, Rude took his job more seriously and actually did chase her for longer than just a few blocks.

Aerith was conflicted. She wanted to charge in and help her mother, worried that they might hurt her, but her mother deterred her. "Don't worry about me, Aerith. Just go! Don't come back!" Elmarya yelled as she grabbed on to another Shinra guard.

With one last look at her mother, Aerith fled as the guards rushed at her. She ran between several civilians again in order to lose them. In the end, she made it to the slum playground. There was a decent-sized metallic moogle head with a small opening that led to the top of the slide. She took refuge here as some guards pass by. Aerith heard one curse as he gave orders to split up and search. Not long afterwards, she heard their receding footsteps and she was left alone in her hiding spot.

 _Why were there so many soldiers this time?_ Aerith thought worriedly as she heard more foot soldiers rushing into the playground. Like the previous group, these Shinra guards split up as well and went in different directions. _Was Shinra finally fed up with me? Is my peaceful life finally over? What should I do now?_ Aerith knew her home was not safe anymore. They would be waiting for her return…She didn't know what they would do to her mom and the thought that they were going to hurt her frightened her. _But they wouldn't hurt her would they?_ Aerith tried to push that last thought out of her mind as she tried to focus on her situation. There was no point in worrying about something that had not yet been confirmed.

Elmyra had told her to not come back. _I'm going to have to figure out a way to sustain myself now that I have no home_ , she concluded. _I can't sell flowers anymore and I don't think I can get a job here in the slums. The Turks would find me eventually_. _I have no choice but to leave Midgar, but I can't if I don't know how to fight. I wouldn't be able to survive even a day in the woods!_ Aerith was getting worried with the lack of options _._ Somehow she had to save her mother, but in order to do so, she would need to sustain herself long enough to go back once things cooled off. The only way to sustain herself without getting caught by Shinra was to live outside of Midgar, but, she needed to learn how to fight in order to survive outside of Midgar. This was getting frustrating.

Just then, more Shinra guards passed by the playground. This time, Aerith caught a glimpse of them as some had passed right through the opening of the moogle head.

 _They all look the same in that uniform_. _I wonder if they feel like they have no identity,_ Aerith mused sullenly. _Wait, I could join the Shinra Army! I could learn to fight there, and then go back for my mom!_ It seemed like a good enough plan. After all, who would ever suspect that she would willingly walk right into her own prison? _I will just have to disguise myself. I have enough money from today's sales to buy some clothing and a few other materials,_ Aerith concluded.

So it was decided. Aerith went into the Wall Market once the coast was clear. She carefully maneuvered around several Shinra guards and went into a clothing shop to get some baggy clothes and other supplies. Inside the changing room, Aerith donned her new outfit. Aerith studied herself and looked at her long hair in the reflection. She braced herself as she grabbed her braid and cut it with a pair of cheap scissors. Aerith then trimmed down her bangs and "fine-tuned" the rest of heir hair to be more boyish. Since Aerith had never tried cutting her own hair before, the haircut turned out somewhat uneven so she ruffled her hair to create more of a messy bob. Satisfied with her new look, it was now time to head towards the upper plate and tryout for the Shinra Army.


	2. Enrolling at Shinra

**Notes: I finally uploaded a cover image for the story. I don't know if my art skills translate too well, but they are both supposed to be Aerith. The one on the right is Aerith with short hair, dressed in a Shinra guard outfit, and the one on the left is what she looked like back in chapter 1. Anyway, on to chapter 2!**

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Aerith was pacing around the room nervously as the other candidates chattered on about the tryouts. It seemed like some of them were trying out for the second time. It had not occurred to her that she could get rejected and be forced to come up with another plan to save Elmyra.

"Last year, I was only one point off from making it in!" One of the applicants exclaimed.

Aerith shoved her hands into her pocket as she continued to meander about. Feeling around in her pocket, Aerith began to rub her late mother's memento in an effort to calm down. Although her birthmother, Ifalna, had passed over a decade ago, Aerith always felt her presence whenever she touched the small white orb. Aerith didn't know if it was a Cetra connection or simply something she imagined but it was no concern to her as long as it helped soothe her nerves.

"How many points do you need to get in?" A younger candidate asked curiously. It was also his first time. Aerith stopped pacing and listened waiting for an answer as well.

"Bah! Kid, you ain't gonna make it if you don't even know the point system, the gruff man replied. The younger man seemed annoyed by his non-answer and Aerith winced hoping his assessment was not true.

"You need to score a minimum of six points in each category to make it in as a Shinra guard," another candidate informed. They are going to award you points in four categories. Regular civilians usually score between 1-5 in each catergory, Shinra grunts score between 6-10, 3rd Class SOLDIERS from 11-15, 2nd Class from 16-20, and finally 1st Class are from 21-25.

"Yep that's right!" a raven-haired man announced as he opened the door to the tryout room.

Everyone hushed and turned their attention toward him. He was wearing a SOLDIER uniform and standing behind him were two other SOLDIERS and…Hojo!

 _What was he doing here?!_ Aerith wondered.

She had not seen him since she was five but it was definitely Hojo, the man who ruined her life! It was because of him that she and her mother got experimented on like animals. And it's because of him that she was in this predicament! Aerith was seething but tried not to show it and stepped to the back just in case she needed to run out of the room, but Hojo seemed to be writing down notes, not really paying much attention to the applicants.

"Hello, candidates," the dark-haired SOLDIER spoke again. "I'm Zack Fair, SOLDIER 1st Class, and I will be evaluating your abilities today."

Aerith was surprised. Zack was not at all what she expected a SOLDIER, let alone, 1st Class, to be like. He seemed fairly young, probably just a year or two older than her and had a warm, friendly face. He was smiling as he spoke and it seemed to suit him.

"Like your fellow applicant just informed you, you will each be scored on four categories: strength, defense, intelligence, and speed," Zack continued as he paced around the room, periodically stopping to look at each of them. "Your eligibility to enroll will be based on the average of all four. The minimum average to pass is a score of six. Any questions?" He stopped in front of Aerith as he finished speaking.

There was silence from the group. "You," Zack said pointing directly at Aerith. "What's your name?"

Aerith was nervous. Why had she been singled out? "Aer…" Aerith began almost forgetting that she was in disguise. She quickly thought of a different name. "Airen," she replied, while she spoke on a lower register.

"Got a last name?"

"Umm…" _I can't say Gainsborough. What about Borough? Burrow?_ Aerith mentally chastised herself for not thinking of a proper name before trying to enroll. "My name is Airen Burrows," she finally declared.

"Well, Airen Burrows, anyone ever tell you that you would make a really cute girl?" Zack remarked loud enough for everyone to hear. Everyone was laughing now.

Aerith quickly shook her head in embarrassment. She tensed, mentally wondering if he had seen through her disguise.

"Ha-ha-ha, I'm just kidding," he added as he patted her shoulder with a little too much force. It seemed he did not know his own strength, or perhaps she was just really that weak. "Anyway, everyone ready? Let's get you guys to the simulation room."

Everyone followed Zack to the simulation room, some still laughing at Aerith's expense. Aerith mentally wondered if that was Zack's way of putting everyone at ease about the tryout. Maybe if she had really been a guy, she may have found the humor in it.

They were now all spread out accordingly. The room took the form of a long path. All the applicants were behind what looked like stalls. Some were jumping or jogging in place to warm up. _This is the speed exam,_ Aerith noted looking far into the horizon. From above, there was a countdown. Aerith tensed as the marker was counting down from five. She readied herself and sprinted off as soon as it went down to zero. Aerith did not dare to look back at the other runners and did not dare to look to her sides either knowing it would only distract her and make her more nervous. She continued to run like this, never slowing down for what seemed like half and hour before she finally saw the finish line. Aerith ran right through it, not bothering to slow down and almost collided with the wall.

The room changed and Aerith could no longer see the other applicants as she turned around. Walls that were previously not there had suddenly appeared and had surrounded her. In front of her was a wall with a series of puzzles. _This must the intelligence exam,_ Aerith noted. She studied it for a moment and quickly began moving the pieces. It seemed like there were several solutions to each problem. _Maybe you get scored on how fast you solve it_ , Aerith mused. She wanted to stay on this portion of the exam longer, wanting to rest from the long run but she had no idea how the other participants were doing. Aerith moved as few pieces as possible to get the correct combination and watched as each puzzle disappeared. Once they were all gone, the room transformed again.

In front of Aertih appeared a sword on a support. She had seen them only in magazines, having never been to a weapon shop. She gingerly picked it up by one end and had the blade almost hit the floor as its support had disappeared. Aerith held it with both hands to steady its wobble. She then looked back at her surroundings and noticed 30 wooden blocks had appeared, each bigger than the previous one. She had spent so much time trying to figure out how to hold the sword properly that she did not even notice her surrounding changing again. Aerith sliced down at a wooden block but noticed the blade did not go through. She tried again, now using the sword as sort of a makeshift hammer as it cut the wood block more and more each time it came in contact with the floor. Aerith blanched as the first block sliced in half. She still had 29 more to go and it was going to take a long time with the way she was struggling on just the first block. After what seemed like an hour or several, Aerith could not tell, she was finally done.

The room changed once more and in front of her appeared stairs. Aerith was wheezing now, tired from slicing/hammering at wood blocks, so stairs were one of the last things she wanted to see right now. Nevertheless, she continued on, jogging up, knowing she had wasted a lot of time during the strength exam. As she jogged up the first ten steps, Aerith felt a strong rush of water hitting her from above. It sent her backwards and she almost rolled off the steps. Aerith quickly collected herself and tried again, only to have the same thing happen again. _This is not working. I can't get past the first ten steps_ , she fretted. Aerith started crawling now, which helped a little. She was no longer being knocked off the steps, but the water pressure still hurt. Aerith crawled as far as she could, which couldn't have been more than an additional ten steps and stopped completely. She was so tired she could no longer move. If it had not been for the water pressure being so painful, she felt that she would have passed out by now.

Several moments later, Aerith felt the pressure disappear. She looked around weakly and saw that they were no longer in the simulation. She quickly got up as she heard Zack speaking again.

"Alright, everyone, good job," he said clapping. "Now, here is the bad news, if I call your name, that means you made it, otherwise, you have to try out again another time."

Aerith listened to a few names and noticed he was going in alphabetical order. The others realized this as well and some cursed as they left. Zack was already calling out those with N names now. Her heart sunk. She didn't make it…She had only one plan. This was it and it was over so fast. Aerith looked around at the happy faces of those who made it. Some were hugging each other and others were bragging about how easy the exam was. It was too painful to watch so she slowly turned to leave.

"Hey, Airen, wait up," Zack called to her as he patted her shoulder. Aerith flinched with pain but he didn't seem to notice. "I wanted to talk to you about your results. Let's see, where to begin…"

Aerith rubbed her shoulder for the second time as he gathered his thoughts.

"You have zero to no fighting abilities and have no knowledge of weapons. I mean that's the first time I've ever seen someone break the woodblocks like that!" He was shaking with laughter at his last comment.

Aerith winced. _Did he stop me just so he could make fun of me?_

Zack continued. "You also seem to have the defenses of a feeble old man. You scored a 1 on both your strength and defense exams." He stopped to scratch his chin now and compose himself. "But your intelligence and speed results actually made your overall average quite high for a grunt. You actually scored a 14, and a 16. Those are 3rd and 2nd Class SOLDIER results, which is quite impressive," he said in wonderment as he looked up at the ceiling in thought. "I can't say you are our ideal candidate, but you've got a lot of potential. If you play catch up, you can stay. What do you think?"

Aerith was beyond ecstatic. " Really? Thank you so much! I'll train really hard!"

Zack smiled at her eagerness. "If you work hard enough, maybe in a few years you can move up the ranks and be a 1st Class like me," he bragged, pointing a finger at himself. "So you got any questions?"

Aerith was thoughtful for a moment. She finally made it in but she remembered that for this to work, her identity had to remain a secret. "Will there be any medical exams?" she asked looking over to Hojo who was still writing down something with a dispassionate face.

"Medical exams?" Zack repeated curiously. "Well, if you make it to SOLDIER, you will have Mako enhancement. They take a sample of your blood to see how much Mako you can handle in your system. It's pretty neat!" He beamed at this last part. "You get all these cool ability enhancements from the Mako."

 _Alright so I just have to stay put as a Shinra guard and not advance to SOLDIER to be undetected. That sounds easy enough_ , Aerith considered. Aerith noticed Zack observing her as she was thinking. She hadn't really noticed before but she now saw that his eyes seemed to glow. His eyes were the color of a clear, bright blue sky after a rainstorm, but the glow….it seemed almost…unnatural. "Is that why your eyes glow?"

"Yep, eyes infused with Mako energy. A SOLDIER trademark!" he beamed.

Aerith nodded slowly in comprehension.

"Well, if there is nothing else, let me show you to your bunk. Follow me," he remarked as he began walking out of the room. Aerith followed him out and looked back. There were other SOLDIERS there now answering questions and walking some of them out as well. Zack led her to a different floor and he was prattling about something. Aerith had not been paying attention and simply nodded whenever he paused to look back at her. They finally stopped in front of a closed metal sliding door.

"Yo, Cloud, open up!" Zack called in as he knocked three times. "You've got a new roommate."

The door slid open with a low _swoosh_ sound. At the doorway, stood a Shinra guard with blond spiky hair and stoic blue eyes.

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 **A.N.** : If anyone is interested in the score system I made for this chapter. Here it is:

Civillian: 1-5

Shinra Guard: 6-10

3rd Class SOLDIER: 11-15

2nd Class SOLDIER: 16-20

1st Class SOLDIER: 21-25

Below is Aerith's score:

Strength: 1

Defense: 1

Intelligence: 14

Speed: 16

Average: 8

Zack's score for comparison:

Strength: 23

Defense: 22

Intelligence: 17

Speed: 22

Average: 21


	3. Meeting Cloud

**Notes:** You guys might notice that occasionally I will refer to Aerith as "he" or "Airen" instead of "she" or her actual name but that is only because that part of the story is told through someone else's perspective. I hope it's not too confusing. I didn't really know how to go about writing those parts since the character(s) describing her don't know she is a girl. I was thinking of writing it like this with the apostrophe marks: 'he' / 'him' / 'his' / 'Airen' but then I changed my mind. If any of you have a preference, please let me know, otherwise I will just continue to write it without any marks.

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Passing the tryouts was difficult for Aerith but now there was the matter of her roommate. He had a spiky, blonde hairstyle which clashed with his pale and soft visage. Although his youthful face was free of any deep lines or wrinkles, the slight downward dip at the corners of his lips told the Cetra he was not unfamiliar with disappointment.

The First Class gestured energetically between the two Shinra cadets, unaware of the disapproval from the blonde. "Cloud Strife, meet Airen Burrows. Airen, meet Cloud." Aerith smiled widely, trying to mentally will his mouth to do the same, which was returned with a blink and a the slight opening and closing of his mouth. "You two get along now," Zack continued. "I've gotta go check on the other recruits." He turned to face Cloud. "Do me a favor and give the new guy a tour of the facilities."

The blonde opened his mouth to speak but was cut short.

"Alright, laters!" Zack was already halfway down the hallway as he said his abrupt farewell. "Airen, I'll send over your uniform and acceptance package later!" he called out overs shoulder before disappearing into a corner, leaving the two new acquainted roommates alone.

Cloud did as he was told without much cordiality. He motioned for Aerith to follow him, which she did without question. He gave Aerith a tour of the Shinra building, showing her the training ground, infirmary, mission room and classrooms saying only what was necessary.

"This is the mission room," he would simply state, or "this is where you go when you need to see a doctor."

Aerith, noticing his matter-of-fact nature and began asking questions in an attempt to lighten the mood. She noticed he was somewhat resistant at first, probably not really the talker type, but she still remained friendly and attentive.

In the beginning, Cloud only gave a courtesy glance each time Airen asked a question. Every time Cloud looked back at the small soldier, he had a small smile and an alert gaze fixed on him. Airen kind of reminded him of a puppy, which was ironic since Zack was the who picked him out. Eventually, Cloud realized that he actually liked this new recruit and found Airen to be very different from the other Shinra troopers. He seemed very friendly and unassuming. Airen was much kinder than the other troopers and had interests outside of war and fighting. At first, Cloud thought that Zack was giving him a burden by assigning him a roommate but he now felt that maybe having some company might be a nice change.

The pair eventually fell into a light rhythm of conversation and even spoke about their hometowns. Aerith and Cloud found that they had similar experiences growing up. They both spent a majority of their childhood as outsiders. Cloud had spoken about his time as a troubled youth at Nibelheim and Aerith shared her experiences growing up in the slums. They both knew what it felt like to be isolated or shunned by their peers, of course, her experiences were for a different reason. Being as naive as she was growing up, Aerith had ruined several friendships by telling kids about her Cetra powers. It didn't take her too long before she decided it was something she had to keep to herself, but the damage had already been done and the rumors and judgment had spread.

"So why did you decide to join Shinra?" Aerith asked Cloud while taking a seat in front of him. They were now at the mess hall setting up a plate. She had not eaten since yesterday morning when she left Elmyra's house to sell flowers, but she held back from devouring the food like a rabid animal.

"You see those guys over there? Cloud asked pointing at two guys sitting some distance away from them.

There were other soldiers looking shyly at the pair as well. One of the two soldiers had long, flowing silver hair and the other had black medium length hair, which he had swept backwards. The silver-haired soldier was sitting with his arms crossed as he listened to the other one talk. She found it odd that he was not wearing a uniform unlike his partner. The raven-haired soldier had on the same uniform as Zack.

"Who are they?" Aerith questioned.

"Those two are 1st Class SOLDIERS," Cloud informed her. "There are only a handful of them and they are the best of the best. That one over there is Sephiroth," he added pointing at the silver-haired soldier. "He is the hero of the Wutai War. "

Aerith thought he looked familiar. She had heard about the Wutai War. Aerith was just seven then and told Elmyra about her husband dying in the war… _Wait a minute, how was HE the same Sephiroth from the war if he looked so young?_

"He was promoted to 1st Class when he was barely a teenager," Cloud continued. "I want to be just like him. I wanted to leave my hometown and make something out of myself," he finished with conviction.

Aerith noticed how Cloud's words defied his inner feelings. She could see the doubt. She smiled warmly at him and spoke with assurance. "That's a nice dream, Cloud. If Zack can make it to 1st Class, so can you!"

Cloud scratched the back of his head nervously. He hadn't really had anyone believe in him like that except for his mom and maybe Zack. "I've been here since I was thirteen. I have been training for four years and haven't even made it to 3rd Class yet," he said sheepishly.

"Don't give up, Cloud. I'm sure it will happen for you," Aerith said with enthusiasm. "At any rate, you have a better chance than I do. I'm a whole year older than you and I just enrolled today!"

Cloud laughed at her observation appreciatively. "Thanks, Airen," he said as he collected himself. "By the way, what's your reason for joining Shinra?"

Aerith became thoughtful for a moment. The truth was, she just needed to train long enough to be able to go back home and rescue Elmyra. "I wanted to get stronger, too!" she replied with a half-truth.

"Well, I will help you out however I can. We are roommates, after all," Cloud offered. "Speaking of which, tomorrow is going to be a special class. Every once in a while, we get taught by 1st or 2nd Class SOLDIERS instead of the 3rd Class. Tomorrow's class is going to be taught by none other than the Great Sephiroth himself!"

"Has he taught classes before?" Aerith questioned curiously.

"Yeah, but they are so rare. It happens only a handful of times a year."

"I guess we'd better rest up for tomorrow then."

Cloud nodded and he led them back to their shared room as they continued talking about the upcoming class. Cloud seemed to be ecstatic about it but Aerith was a little uneasy. She had heard so many stories about Sephiroth when she was growing up. Slum kids would run around with sticks pretending to be him and retelling tales of his conquests. They always depicted him as some kind of one-man-army, being able to slay thousands of beasts and warriors alike. They admired him and wanted to be him, but she thought he was…scary.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The class was supposed to start at 6 am but Aerith woke up an hour and a half ahead of time so she could prepare without having to get dressed in front of Cloud. She rubbed away the rest of the sleepiness from her eyes and headed for the showers. There was barely any privacy in the showers. There were separate stalls but the Shinra staff had apparently not bothered to install curtains in any of them. Luckily, no one bothered to wake up this early.

 _I guess I have to take my showers at 4:30 am from now on_ , she mused.

After washing up, Aerith carefully bound her chest with some cloth to make her breasts as flat as possible. She had to do this several times to find a balance of tightness that would keep her chest flat enough but at the same time, not constrict her breathing. This too was going to become part of her new routine. Aerith put on her new uniform and studied her reflection. She did not pass for a Shinra guard even in the uniform. She was much shorter than the other recruits, standing at 5'3" making her below average in height for a man and even for a woman. The uniform covered most of her slim figure but the folds of the fabric and her uncovered arms gave no hint of muscle definition. She noted that her face did not match a soldier's face either. It was far too smooth for a man's. The worst transgressors though were her large expressive eyes. Nothing screamed meekness louder than those bright forest green eyes.

 _This is my new life…for now._

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 **A.N.:** These are Cloud's current stats, if any of you are interested. Next chapter is going to be posted on the 10th.

Strength: 12

Defense: 8

Intelligence: 10

Speed: 8

Average: 9.5 (so close to 3rd Class!)


	4. A Class with Sephiroth

**Notes: I'm not too good at writing action/fight scenes but I tried. I hope it's not too boring or lame. Also, this is where the T rating for the story kicks in. There's going to be some violence.**

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Cloud and Aerith were the first to arrive to the classroom. As they walked in, they noticed that Sephiroth was already inside. He was pacing slowly with his head buried in a book.

"C'mon, Airen, let's go to the front," Cloud suggested as he jogged the rest of the way.

Aerith felt a little nervous thinking about being so close to Sephiroth but seeing how there was no way he did not hear what Cloud just said, she followed him to the front. They made it to their seats and Sephiroth coolly looked over them without saying a word. Cloud unpacked a breakfast he got from the cafeteria and handed one to Aerith.

Aerith ate her breakfast silently and waited for the other troops to arrive. Little by little, the other members arrived until the class was filled with the chatter of about 500 soldiers.

"Cloud, are these all of the guards in Shinra?" Aerith whispered to him.

"Yeah, why?"

"How come we all get taught in one classroom? Aren't we supposed to be separated by ranks or years?"

"We all get trained together regardless of year," Cloud explained. "Eventually, everyone naturally breaks up into smaller groups to do mock missions. In real combat, we are usually in random teams so it's natural that people will have different levels of abilities. This also tests our leadership qualities. In a mass of 500, it's hard to get the instructor's attention unless you are really special." He said this part with some bitterness. "Those that do, can usually tryout for SOLDIER."

"Oh, I see, but what about individual progress? Does that mean once you are a Shinra guard, you get to stay in the army for good?" Aerith questioned as she finished the last bite of her breakfast.

Cloud shook his head. "Not quite, every time we enter a room, our IDs get scanned. It's their way of keeping track of our attendance. As long as we don't miss class, we are fine. It's hard to slack off in class since your team members keep you in check so as long as you show up, you're bound to work up a sweat."

"Let's begin today's warm up." Sephiroth announced as he put his book down. The room fell into complete silence now. Sephiroth tapped a few buttons on his desk and the room transformed into a grassy field. _It was another one of those simulations_ , Aerith observed.

For what seemed to be an hour, they did calisthenics such as running obstacles, doing push ups, etc. The room then transformed into a rocky terrain. They were to run through the path and reach the end. It was a little harder than running on grass or solid flooring but Aerith still managed to finish with good timing. Some of her other classmates took notice of how fast she was and Aerith could see jealousy forming on their faces. After everyone else caught up, the terrain turned into a fiery one, then a sandy one, and finally a windy one. The fiery terrain was probably the worst experience for everyone. The longer they took to finish the course, the more their feet burned.

They were all tired from running through four different terrains but there was absolutely no rest. They were now standing on a platform with water falling on them. Aerith recognized this as a different version of the defense/endurance test from yesterday. The platform kept lowering every minute making the pressure from the waterfall stronger. It was too much for Aerith and she collapsed on the platform in pain. She then suddenly felt the pressure lessen. Looking up, she saw that Cloud was standing over her to block some of the water. She quietly mouthed the words "thank you" to him and he nodded backing response.

The room changed once more and Aerith quickly got up. She noticed some nasty looks directed at her and Cloud from some of the other troopers. _Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for Cloud to help me_ , she mentally noted.

They were faced with some large boulders now. It was a strength test again. One of the trainees hacked away at it furiously. _He was probably one of the stronger students_. Aerith did her best and attacked it, chipping away at it slowly. Everyone else had finished by now and she was still barely halfway done. Aerith could hear some laughter coming from behind her as she continued to work.

"Alright, now that your warm ups are complete, this is where the real lesson begins," Sephiroth interrupted, restarting the simulation.

Aerith lost her balance momentarily as she sliced at the thin air. One of the soldiers howled with laugher, which made her scowl at him. He locked eyes with her and seemed ready to throw a punch.

"These training missions have been designed by me," Sephiroth continued interrupting the fight. "You have the remainder of the three hours to complete them. The first mission is a rescue one. You will have to get work together as a team and think of a way to reach the target as fast as possible. You are to infiltrate a mansion and rescue the dummy president. The enemies will be far too strong for you to handle if you don't pace yourselves at this stage so I advise you to not be reckless."

With the push of a few buttons, the terrain changed again. They were all standing in what looked like a glass control room with large screens showing them different parts of the terrain. Sephiroth was standing outside of the control room. One of the screens focused in on him. Before him, was a long maze and a large 50 story tower.

"I will demonstrate how to complete this mission and you may follow my suit or gamble with your own abilities," Sephiroth spoke from outside.

With that, Sephiroth was off. He moved rapidly through the maze demonstrating his agility and speed. It was hard to keep up with him even with the cameras focused on him. Sephiroth swiftly incapacitated each monster with one smooth swing of his Masamune. He got to the entrance of the mansion and worked his way up to the 50th floor where the hostage was held. He stayed on each floor for no longer than a few seconds destroying the monsters just as easily as the ones from the maze. It wasn't long until he reached the top floor where he quickly disarmed the enemy boss and rescued the dummy president. Just like that, the simulation was over in a matter of 20 minutes.

"Now is your turn," Sephiroth stated simply with even breathing. "Gather into your groups and I will restart the simulation."

Most of the troopers went into parties of five or more. Some even had as many as fifteen members. Cloud, true to his loner nature had not made many friends in the four years that he had been at Shinra so the only member in his team was Aerith. They made quite the odd couple and it had not gone unnoticed by the other troopers. They snickered to themselves whispering unkind comments to one another about the bizarre duo.

"Cloud, are you always alone on these missions?" Aerith asked with sympathy.

Cloud shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, the other guys don't really like me so I'm usually on my own. You can join one of their groups if you want," he offered.

Aerith shook her head in protest. "No way, Cloud. We are sticking together."

"Everyone get in position!" Sephiroth ordered.

All the groups stood on the edge of the classroom as the simulation was resetting. The maze had appeared before them and a tower at the center of it all. They now had to fight their way through the maze. Cloud slashed his way through a few monsters while Aerith blocked or dodged their attacks. The idea of actually killing even in a simulation made her very uncomfortable. It was very different watching it on screen when Sephiroth was doing it and even worse seeing it up close with Cloud. She couldn't image actually doing it herself, and felt badly about being a liability to Cloud. He didn't seem to mind or notice though as they made it to the entrance of the tower with no trouble. There were other groups showing up now and the battles had become easier.

After several battles and stairs, they were now on the last floor with the dummy president sitting behind a large hound with a head the size of her torso. It gave a big howl and a swarm of beasts began ambushing them. The room was in total chaos. People were screaming and slashing away at the beasts. Aerith froze in fear. There was just so much red everywhere.

One of her classmates yelled at her to attack. Things almost seemed to be moving in slow motion as she looked towards Cloud. During the chaos, Cloud had gotten pinned to the floor by the large hound. Cloud's sword had been flung away and there was no way for him to defend himself. The beast was trying to snap its jaws at Cloud who by some miracle managed to hold its mouth partway closed. That miracle did not last long though as Cloud's energy gave out and the beast sent him flying against a wall as it swung its large head. The hound was getting reading to charge at him again and Aerith thought her heart was going to burst out of her chest in that moment.

"Cloud!" she yelled.

The beast turned toward the noise and she acted without thought, charging toward it. Her sword pierced through the beast's eye, injuring it greatly. It howled in agony as it tried to dislodge the sword from its eye. Aerith quickly grabbed Cloud's discarded sword and slashed at the beast's neck to end it's suffering. Blood began to spew out of the hound as it tried to howl. It was not dead. Aerith looked horrified and slashed again, as she closed her eyes. She felt something warm spray on her as the blade cut through flesh. She swung again, and again, and again until she could hear no movement coming from the beast.

Aerith sobered up from her adrenaline rush and saw that where the head was supposed to be, there was a mass of matted fur, blood and guts. Shaking, she looked down to her hands and noticed that she was covered in the beast's warm blood. The metallic smell stung her nose and she suddenly had the sick realization that she had done this. She had drawn blood, had killed for the first time in her life. From behind her, there was a noise like the sound of a bell, but she could not register it. Without warning, Aerith suddenly lurched forward and vomited, emptying out the contents of her stomach. She stayed there on her hands and knees heaving heavily. She didn't even bother to wipe away the residue that dribbled down to her chin.

"Airen!"

Cloud was at her side now. Aerith felt dizzy and was barely able to register Cloud's hand on her shoulder. With her senses slowly coming back to her, Aerith noticed that they were no longer in the simulation. The smell of blood and guts was gone. There were no monster bodies littered on the floor. She was back in the classroom, but she was still crouched on the floor hovering over a pile of her own puke. Then the noise of raucous laughter pierced her ears.

"Look at him! Did you see him puke? Ha-ha-ha!" someone said from behind her.

"He's so pathetic. No wonder he's with Strife. They make the perfect pair."

"He looks like a dog getting ready to eat his own vomit!"

Aerith kept her head down, too embarrassed to meet their gaze. With shame welling up inside of her, tears began to sting at her eyes. She then felt Cloud withdraw his hand from her shoulder and stand up. His boots shuffled in the direction of the laughter. She heard Cloud shove one of the troopers and their laughter turned to cries of shock and anger, but before anyone had actually thrown a punch, everything became deathly quiet again. The sound of boots stepping toward her was the only audible noise. Aerith slowly looked up and saw black boots and black trousers. Daring to look further up, she saw Sephiroth towering over her with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Get up," he ordered emotionlessly.

Aerith felt a shiver run through her and her body froze. _Was this the expression all those people from Wutai War saw before they died?_

"I don't like to repeat myself, cadet."

Aerith tried to will her body to move but all she could manage was a shaky attempt at sitting up. Before she even moved her legs into position, Aerith felt herself get pulled up roughly by the front of her uniform. She heard some gasps from the other troopers as they watched Sephiroth lift her up until her feet had left the ground. Aerith did not dare to look him in the eyes, fearing what his face might look like if it were contorted into anger, so she shut her eyes as her face came to level with his.

"What do you think you are doing here?" she heard him says with unmasked contempt.

"I–"

"Look at your superiors when you are spoken to," he ordered.

Although, his voice remained even in tone, she could not suppress the shiver that ran through her body. Aerith slowly opened her eyes but kept her eyes downcast.

"I'm not going to ask you again," he said dispassionately.

Sephiroth pulled her face directly in front of his so that their noses were almost touching. Aerith's large frightened eyes met with his impassive ones. She felt the familiar stinging in her eyes again but could not stop herself from crying so she just let the tears flow freely. The tears silently trailed down her face and a few drops landed on Sephiroth's black leather gloves.

"Pathetic," he scoffed after some silence. "I'm not even going to waste my time with you," he finished as he let go of her shirt, letting her fall to the ground.

As Aerith's feet and bottom made contact with the classroom floor, sensation came back into her body. Aerith wiped her eyes and looked around her seeing nothing but condescension in the eyes her classmates. She scanned around quickly trying to find Cloud's friendly face but he did not return her gaze. Cloud was looking away toward Sephiroth who had walked a distance away and was now giving a lecture on the next mock mission. Aerith quickly scanned for her helmet, which was thrown off her head while she had been attacking the simulated beast. Grabbing her helmet, she quickly slammed it onto her head so she could hide her face from them and ran. Within seconds she was already out of classroom and was barely able to hear the other troopers calling after her as she left.

* * *

 **End Notes: By the way, Sephiroth being promoted to First Class at the age of 12 is actually something that really happened in the Final Fantasy universe. I thought that was weird myself but whatever. Shinra has been known for doing worse things than making a young kid go into war.**

 **Next chapter will most likely be posted on Friday (1/15).**


	5. Meeting Angeal

Aerith ran with purpose but no destination. She dashed toward the exit of the Shinra building when suddenly, the smell of flowers made her stop. She stopped to catch her breath and analyze her surroundings. She had made it to the first floor but in her daze, was heading towards the east wing of the Shinra buiding, not the north where both the entrance and exit were. She calmly walked further to the source of the smell. _Cherry blossoms, roses, lilac, magnolia…_ Aerith was eventually guided down a corridor that led into a greenhouse of sorts. She was still inside the four walls of Shinra but the roof was made of glass so the sunlight could get through. It's no wonder she never noticed this place from the outside.

Aerith appraised the condition of the greenhouse and found that it was in quite a poor condition when compared to the rest of the Shinra rooms. There were a few trees planted, some bushes, vegetable plants, flowers, and bags of soil piled haphazardly. She noticed that everything was planted quite randomly as well with no real organization, but she found it quite charming all the same. Aerith was so overwhelmed with the joy of being around greenery again that she quickly forgot all her troubles. She looked over some seed packets that were strewn around the ground and began opening some. She planted a few flowers in a neat little pile next to the existing magnolias. Losing herself in the rhythm of gardening, Aerith naturally began to hum as she always did back at her church. She wasn't aware of how much time she had spent in the greenhouse until she was greeted by a male voice.

"Hello, there."

Aerith quickly turned around to see a tall man with black hair standing a few feet away from her. She recognized him as the First Class SOLDIER who was sitting with Sephiroth the other day, and suddenly remembered how she got here. She was supposed to be running away and somehow got side tracked. Aerith felt like smacking herself for getting so distracted.

"I wasn't expecting to find a Shinra guard in my garden," he said with no animosity. "Only a handful of people know about this place," he finished with a smile.

Aerith made no response. This was not at all what she expected from someone who was friends with Sephiroth. He was even smiling at her.

"You're not much of a talker, huh?" he questioned. "I have a friend like that."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude," Aerith replied quickly getting ready to leave. It probably wasn't a good idea to be hanging around one of Sephiroth's friend.

"I'm Angeal, by the way," he said ignoring her attempt to leave. " What's your name?"

Aerith was taken aback by his behavior. It seemed like he wanted her to stay. He even introduced himself like they were on equal ground. This First Class SOLDIER wasn't like Sephiroth at all. He acted much more like Zack, warm and friendly. He even looked a bit like Zack but older and wiser.

"I-I'm Airen," Aerith replied hesitantly.

"Well, nice you meet you, Airen," he declared grabbing one of her hands and shaking it. "I see you like gardening. I noticed you changed some stuff around." He was scanning their surrounding now. Angeal wasn't lying. This really was his garden after all. "The plants look quite more vibrant. Why don't you show me what you've been doing?" he finally said smiling at her again.

Aerith managed to give him a small smile as well. Angeal seemed like he was genuinely interested in gardening and she was happy to have met someone that enjoyed it as much as her. Aerith began shyly showing Angeal how she was tending to the flowers and vegetables. Angeal listened with great interest and enthusiasm. She began to feel more comfortable and ventured on into more details about how to balance the arrangement of the garden so that the arrangement would look more aesthetically pleasing. Angeal laughed at this knowing fully well that his aesthetic organization skills were quite lacking. Aerith apologized profusely not meaning to insult him, but Angeal brushed her apology aside telling her to continue. Aerith laughed along with him and felt that she was in the presence of a good friend. She continued to talk more in depth about plant life and how they nourished each other in certain arrangements. Being so comfortable in the company of someone who loved gardening as much as she, Aerith forgot herself once again and started telling him about the energy of plants, something the Planet had spoken to her about.

"Plants, just like humans have their own energy force," Aerith revealed. "They use their energy to survive and thrive. They even lend their energy to other plants that struggle. Even more amazing is that they lend their energy to other species like animals and even humans, without asking for anything in return." She suddenly became thoughtful and quiet before she continued. "I think in a way, they are the Planet's protectors, keeping us all safe by sharing their energy and even sacrificing themselves…of course, they always return to the Lifestream afterwards and are reborn onto the Planet once again, but it still doesn't take away from how wonderful they are."

Angeal became quiet and observed Airen as he spoke. His blue eyes glowed with intensity. _This guard speaks about plants, the Planet and even the Lifestream with so much wisdom_ , he observed. Angeal found it quite odd. He couldn't see Airen's face, which was still hidden under a soldier helmet, but he could tell that Airen was quite young. _How did he know so much about this stuff? What else did this trooper know?_

"You sure know a lot about the Planet," Angeal remarked.

Aerith shook her head. "I don't know that much but I try to learn as much as I can. The Planet is precious to so many living things and most animals are doing whatever they can to help it. It's a shame that the smartest species are the ones that are hurting it rather than protecting it. If Shinra stopped using Mako and looked to the capacity of plants as an alternative energy source, I'm sure the Planet would become a much better place."

"Is Shinra really hurting the Planet that much?"

Hearing the word "Shinra" being spoken from someone's mouth other than her own, Aerith caught herself and realized she was badmouthing the company she was currently working for. No, she was badmouthing the company this First Class SOLDIER has been working for years!

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that!" Aerith blurted out.

"It's alright. Don't worry about it," Angeal said waving a hand.

Aerith let out a sigh of relief.

"Say, why are you at Shinra anyways if you think it's hurting the planet?" he asked curiously.

"I wanted to get stronger but I don't think I'm really cut out for this," Aerith replied rubbing her shoulder shyly. The memory of her embarrassing escapade flashed through her mind.

"Hmm…I see," Angeal said as he held his chin in thought. "Sephiroth can be quite intimidating, huh?"

"H-how did you know?" Aerith asked incredulously. Had he somehow read her mind?

"Everyone knows he's teaching the guards today," Angeal informed her.

"I see…"

"Seeing how classes ended just recently, I'm assumimg something unexpected happened earlier?" Angeal asked cautiously.

Aerith simply nodded in response.

"It's always tough in the beginning," Angeal consoled. "I may not know much of your fighting abilities, but I can tell you are a very bright young man. You shouldn't give up so easily," he said putting a hand on her shoulder.

Aerith was about to make a reply but froze when she heard a familiar voice coming from the entrance to the garden.

"Angeal, you're late. Genesis is already at the restaurant."

"Ah, Sephiroth," Angeal greeted as he turned around to wave him over. "My apologies. I was so enthralled in conversation with Airen here that I forgot about lunch," he said motioning to her.

Sephiroth walked over to them and was suddenly made aware of the Shinra guard standing behind Angeal. Sephiroth could not see his face, which was hidden under a guard helmet but he recognized who he was from his short stature. It was the same weakling that had ran away from his class just two hours ago.

"I see…" Sephiroth replied stoically as his green eyes looked over the small soldier.

"Well, then why don't you join us for lunch, Airen?" Angeal suggested turning his attention back to Aerith.

"I-I'm s-sorry, I can't. I-I've g-gotta go," Aerith managed to squeak as she ran past them and out the door.

"Why did you invite him?" Sephiroth asked with annoyance.

"I think that boy is interesting," Angeal admitted. "He's really quite bright."

"Hmph. You mean like your puppy?" Sephiroth remarked sarcastically.

"I never said Zack was bright. I said he has a good heart," Angeal explained.

"What about this new puppy of yours?" Sephiroth continued to question.

"He has a good heart as well."

"And the courage of a mouse," Sephiroth added with some bite.

"Ha-ha-ha. Perhaps, but even a mouse can be of use to a lion," Angeal countered.

"Only to serve as fodder."

"Quite the cynic today, aren't you, Sephiroth?"

"Let's go. Genesis has probably eaten everything by now."

* * *

After leaving the Shinra gardens, Aerith made her way to the Wall Market. She wasn't ready to see any of her classmates just yet so eating at the cafeteria was out of the question and if she ate at a restaurant above the plate, she ran the risk of running into someone. Shinra didn't provide her with a salary but luckily, she still had some gil left over. It was just yesterday that she left home but so much had already happened. Aerith ordered a cheap bowl of noodles at a ramen shop, ate her fill, and paid with the last of her remaining gil.

Aerith decided to visit her church to get more money, but noticed from a distance that there were Shinra troopers along with a blonde Turk guarding the place. They must have been staking out the place hoping she would come back. She turned around and went to the playground knowing they were probably staking out her house, too. She didn't really want to face her mom like this anyway: as a loser.

 _I'm trapped. Even though I am no longer Aerith Gainsborough, I am still trapped. I can't go back home because the Turks are waiting for me and I can't go back to Shinra because I will die of shame!_

Aerith hugged her knees to her chest and cried silently to herself for some time as she looked up to the sky…or more like the plate.

 _Sephiroth was right. I am pathetic_ , she thought.

She was always crying even when she was younger. Was the last surviving Cetra really that weak? She remembered how her mother never shed tears while they were at Hojo's lab. Aerith had always been the one crying even though her mother had shielded her from most of the harsher tests and experiments. Her foster mother had shielded her, too, and it had cost her dearly. Aerith wiped her tears away and decided that she no longer wanted others to sacrifice for her sake. She wasn't going to be the cause of anyone else's unhappiness.

 _Sephiroth is right. I am pathetic…but Angeal is right, too. I can't just give up._

With new resolve, Aerith decided the first thing she had to do was conquer her fear of battle. There was no other way around it. If she was going to protect someone, she was also going to have to learn to kill or at least face death without wavering. The next time she was doing a mock mission, she was not going to throw up at the sight of blood or death. Knowing what she had to do next, Aerith braced herself and roamed the Sector 5 slums looking for monsters to fight.

Eventually, she found a hedgehog pie. Aerith remembered running away from these all the time while she sold flowers, but today she was not going to run. She was going to kill it. Preparing herself, she slashed at the small monster spilling its blood. It cried in pain, which made Aerith falter. She quickly slashed it again with more force to end its misery. The hedgehog pie collapsed and did not move. Aerith shivered and was aware of the familiar feeling in the pit of her stomach. She felt her throat burning up and she knew what was coming next. Aerith emptied the contents of her stomach again. She took a moment to catch her breath and ran back to the playground without bothering to take the loot from the hedgehog pie or even dare to look at it.

Aerith ran back into the giant metallic moogle head's entryway and hugged herself in an attempt to calm down. Aerith called to the Planet not really knowing what she wanted to ask for. She just wanted to feel better but didn't know how. She needed to hear a voice to distract herself from the image of the mutilated hedgehog pie. The Planet soothed her as best as it could telling Aerith that the creature had returned to the Lifestream. Aerith stayed like this for a while, muttering to the Planet but really more to herself, "Make it better….please, make it better…I'm so sorry…please make it better…"

Several hours later, Aerith awoke with a start, not realizing she had fallen asleep. She was sore from sleeping in such an awkward position and disappointed to find that she was still Airen Burrows. Everything that had happened was not just some terrible nightmare. Aerith concluded that it was going to be a long and painful process for her to become the type of strong person that was capable of saving someone. Registering this, Aerith continued on with her resolve. The sun was still out and there were still plenty of monsters to fight. She killed more monsters resulting in her feeling sick each time, but she pushed herself until dusk. Aerith slept inside the moogle head and continued her routine for two more days until Sunday evening when she decided it was time to return to the Shinra headquarters. By that time, she had amassed about 5,000 gil from the monsters. She still felt nauseated from killing but she at least didn't break down after every death. Cloud was already asleep when she came into their room so she decided to do the same after taking a long shower.

Early the next morning, Aerith was roused awake by Cloud's worried calls.

"Airen! Airen, wake up! Where have you been?! I've been looking around for you since Friday."

Cloud was really agitated, which made her feel guilty. She hadn't thought about how her actions would affect him. She actually thought that he was embarrassed to be around her now since he refused to meet her eyes the last time they were in class.

"I'm sorry, Cloud, I just didn't want to be in class with Sephiroth anymore… " Aerith replied honestly, still a little sleepy.

"Sorry about that," Cloud remarked realizing he hadn't really been supportive about her encounter with Sephiroth. "I didn't really know what to do when he was…lecturing you."

Cloud seemed ashamed of himself. Aerith could tell, having felt that herself in the past few days. Aerith was surprised that this had affected him so much. He had even said that he went looking for her. He didn't avert his gaze because he was ashamed of her, he averted his gaze because he was ashamed of himself…

"Don't worry about it, Cloud. I'm just glad you still think of me as a friend after becoming a laughing stock to the other troopers," Aerith replied sympathetically.

Cloud seemed to have perked up at her kind response. "Of course. I would never abandon you like that," he stated more confidently.

"Thank you, Cloud. You're a true friend," Aerith voiced with a warm smile.

"Don't mention it," Cloud replied with a grin of his own. He then cleared his throat a little nervously. "Um…you should know that Sephiroth decided to teach us for this whole week. This has actually never happened before. Special instructors usually teach for only one day."

Any sleepiness that she still felt was completely gone now from Cloud's news. Aerith was horrified. She would not be able to handle being in class with Sephiroth for a whole week. She had not even recovered from her previous "blunder"!

"Is there any way I can get out of it?" she questioned with some worry.

"I thought that might have been an issue for you so I figured you could go on a mission," Cloud advised. "If you sign up for a mission, you will be excused from class. My only worry is that you've been at Shinra for just a few days so going on a mission could be too dangerous for you."

"I'd rather take my chances with the mission," Aerith stated simply.

"Well, there is a group mission," Cloud remarked thoughtfully. "I think those are safer. The downside is that it's headed by the Turks. Most of them are scumbags doing Shinra's dirty and illegal work."

"Oh…I see." Aerith was well aware of the type of things Turks did. "Well, thanks, Cloud. Will you be all right in class?"

"Yeah, don't worry about me. Just worry about yourself and be safe," Cloud asserted.

* * *

 **Notes: Reno will be making an appearance next chapter. Chapter will be posted on Jan 20.**


	6. Mission with a Turk

Aerith was now in the briefing room. Reno, the all too familiar red-haired Turk was the only one in the room with her.

"I thought there'd be more of you guys here," he exclaimed with annoyance. "Are they all busy kissin' Sephiroth's ass?"

It wasn't really a question but Aerith shrugged nonetheless to be polite.

"Oh well," he said with an exasperate sigh."Mission specs are simple. We are to track this girl and bring her in to Hojo," he instructed holding a picture of her eight-year-old self.

It seemed ironic to Aerith that she ended up signing up for a mission to search for…herself with the Turk who was in charge of capturing her.

"This is an outdated picture so you're gonna have to use your imagination and figure out what she looks like ten years older, Reno said casually. "She lives in Sector 5 and frequents a church. My partner, Rude is keeping a watch at her mom's house with some other guards and Elena is at the church. Your orders are to assist me with the search in the slums. Got it?"

Aerith nodded.

"Well, let's move out!"

They were now below the plate searching through the first sector. Aerith noticed him eying her weirdly a few times, which made her nervous so she decided to walk behind him. Reno, however seemed to be either a slow walker or purposely wanted to remain side by side as they searched.

"So what's your name, trooper?" Reno broke the silence.

"Airen Burrows…" Aerith replied curtly, not really wanting to continue the conversation.

"Kind of a girly name," Reno pointed out rudely. "You're pretty small for a guy, too. Must have gotten picked on a lot growing up. That why you joined Shinra?"

"Something like that…" Aerith answered tersely.

"Where'd ya grow up?" Reno continued to question.

"The slums…"

"No kidding. Y' know our target?"

Aerith shook her head.

"Eh, figures. Girl like that wouldn't go for a small fry like you. Would never even give you a second glance," Reno stated flatly.

"What do you mean?" Aerith questioned with some feeling. The question was out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

"Well, she's the cute and innocent type—a real princess," he expressed with some annoyance. "She'd probably go for the macho SOLDIER type. Y'know the type that's always tryin' to be a hero—fighting for some righteous cause or some shit like that."

Aerith felt insulted but held back. Reno thought she was a spoiled princess waiting to be rescued by some hero, when in fact the total opposite was true. She was practically being hunted down by the company that produced these 'SOLDIER type heroes' he was talking about.

"I don't think you should be making assumptions like that based on looks," Aerith replied guardedly.

"Open your eyes, man. Everything is about looks," Reno declared while waving his hands. "You think a 'princess' like her would ever go for some dark and damaged guy?" he retorted with malice in his voice.

Aerith was confused as to why he seemed so concerned with this. Was it possible that he hated her because he thought they were on different social standings? The truth was they were probably more alike than she cared to admit. She wasn't a 'princess' as he called her. According to society, she was simply another slum youth with no future, and in the eyes of Shinra, she was just a tool or animal waiting to be experimented on.

"She's probably a little damaged herself if she lives in a place like this and has a history with Shinra," Aerith finally said with some sadness.

Reno became quiet and studied her momentarily. "Hmm…you're right. Maybe I should ask her out, heh-heh," Reno suggested cheerfully.

Aerith almost lost her footing from his statement. "Huh? But you just said—"

"Hey, I said she wouldn't be interested in guys like me. I never said _I_ wasn't interested," Reno interrupted.

Aerith eyed him weirdly not really knowing whether he was being serious or just joking around. She decided to not ask as they continued their futile mission.

They fell into a routine of chitchat while they looked through the rest of the sectors. Aerith let Reno pick the topic and didn't initiate much conversation, fearing if she spoke too much she might reveal too much or give away her identity. Reno didn't mind as he was used to having a quiet partner. He mainly gossiped about women, his friends, and some of the higher ups at Shinra. On rare occasions, Reno revealed more of who he really was under his playful Turk façade. He had problems just like everyone else and had his fair share of tragedies. She was sympathetic and privately vowed to be kinder to him even though he was her enemy. For the most part, Aerith did not mind the topics, however, at times it felt like she had been listening in on things that guys only spoke about in locker rooms. In short, Reno was quite shameless regarding almost every subject.

* * *

"Well, Angeal it's hard to see what your fascination is with this mouse of yours as he has not even been in class this whole week," Sephiroth announced to Angeal during lunch.

"I noticed his name on one of the missions lists," Angeal informed him calmly.

"Probably too embarrassed to come back to class," Sephiroth proposed as he crossed his arms.

"Embarrassed? Is that why he left your class early last week?" Angeal questioned curiously.

"He vomited in front of everyone after killing one of the simulated beasts. He has become quite the pariah among the troopers."

"Hmm…so he hates killing. What an interesting boy," Angeal said thoughtfully.

"Interesting? More like idiotic. Why join the army if he hates killing?"

"You don't find that interesting? He joined a company that forces him to face his fears. It's quite obvious his dreams are different than the other troopers'. I doubt he's looking for fame, power, or glory. Joining Shinra is probably a stepping-stone to something bigger for him. Aren't you the least bit curious as to what that might be?"

"Not when he is destined to fail."

"Ha-ha-ha," Angeal laughed with good humor. "You're always quite the cynic, Sephiroth."

* * *

Reno and Aerith were nearing the end of their mission. It had been a long twenty-four days. During the time, they spent together, Aerith confirmed what she had always assumed about him: he was quite the lazy Turk. Although Reno was second in command, he did not take his job as seriously as one would imagine. For this, she was grateful. Reno would retire for the day once it was 8pm and not a minute later, which gave Aerith time to continue practicing her swordsmanship on monsters. While she did this, Reno would frequent bars, not bothering to check up on her as he claimed his "off duty time" was sacred. Around midnight or sometimes even later, Reno would retire to one of the two rooms that Tseng had paid for in advance. It was a way for Tseng to check that Reno was keeping up with his schedule. Three days were dedicated to searching each sector and if Reno failed to check into one of the rooms on time, Tseng would know that something was amiss. Aerith had the fortune of being given a room all to herself. Originally, a total of five Shinra guards were expected to help with the mission so there were two rooms set up per sector, one for Reno, who hated to share, and the other for the four troopers.

"Yo, since the mission is almost over, why don't we hit up Rude and see what he's up to?" Reno suggested.

Aerith nodded. It was the perfect opportunity for her to visit her mom without arousing suspicion. As they got near to her house, Aerith's heart sunk. She was met with the horrific sight of her house ablaze with fire. It took a great deal of effort on her part to not scream or cry out right then and there. She just stood frozen on the spot. _Why was this happening? Was Elmyra in there?! Wasn't Rude supposed to be keeping a watch on the house? Who could have done this?!_

"I–I thought…I mean, w-where's your partner?" Aerith stuttered.

"Hmm, good questions," Reno said as he shuffled though his pockets to look for a phone. He dialed a few numbers and waited for Rude to pick up on the other side.

"Yo, where are you?" Reno asked once he heard Rude answer. "Hey, what happened to your spot? Shit's on fire….Really? Tseng said that?" Reno paused for a moment, waiting for his partner to finish. "Well, alright see you in a bit."

Reno hung up and shoved the phone back into his pocket.

"Rude's at the church with Elena. Says Tseng told him to burn down the place. Hojo must be getting pretty impatient," he informed her casually.

"Wh—what about the girl's mother?"

"Who cares? Let's go get a drink. Rude said he would meet us there. C'mon we're going to the 7th Heaven Bar."

Aerith was horrified by his indifference but knew now was not the time to say something that would blow her cover. She nodded silently and followed him to their next destination.

 _Just as I thought_ , Reno mused as he started walking in the direction of the bar.

Reno had suspected who Airen really was for some time. He had to give her props for doing a decent job of masking herself as guy though. Those bright green eyes of hers were just too unique to forget. If it had not been for those eyes, he would have never given it a second thought. Aerith had also managed to keep her voice on a lower register throughout the whole mission and never faltered the whole time they had been chatting. He had to admit though that he found it quite fun testing her patience. He spoke about the most vulgar things he could think of just to see how she reacted. To his surprise, she was quite polite about the whole ordeal. Aerith would occasionally blush with embarrassment but never judge him for what he said. Sometimes he would step up his game and play physical pranks on her and even make her do demeaning tasks like dragging his drunken ass back to the inn. He was always surprised that she did manage to carry/drag him back being as small as she was. He wasn't really the muscular type like those SOLDIERs but he was still quite a bit taller than her.

Now that he thought about it, Aerith didn't really fit the princess description he had given her at the start of their mission. She didn't have an air of arrogance around her or think he was beneath her because of his dirty Turk job. In fact, she seemed quite sympathetic to his situation, understanding that there were things people needed to do to survive. Even when he tried to be at his worst or sent her off on annoying errands, she never once snapped at him like the other Shinra troopers would, disregarding the fact that he was supposed to be their superior. She even retained her composure when he by mistake whacked her on the head with his nightstick, potentially giving her a concussion. She just asked him with mild annoyance why he hit her as if all he did was take a bite out of a sandwich she was eating. Reno smiled lightly at this memory noting that it was nearly impossible to get her to be genuinely angry. He reluctantly admitted to himself that he came to find her company quite enjoyable and almost felt remorse for having to burn her house down. Just almost because his job still came first. He was still going to turn her in at the end of the day.

* * *

 **Notes:** I feel that I should mention there is going to be some romance down the line, like waaaaay down the line. I don't know if that's something you guys are interested in or what but this story is about adventure, friendship, and romance (ffnet didn't let me select a third genre).


	7. The 7th Heaven

"Yo, Rude!" Reno waved to his bald friend as they spotted him.

Rude nodded back in acknowledgement.

"So what are you guys drinking?" Reno asked as he walked over to the counter where Rude was sitting with a blonde Turk. It was the same blonde Turk Aerith had seen guarding her church. Aerith followed Reno and took a seat beside him. She then set her helmet down on the bar counter.

"Just some beers," Rude slurred as he took a swig from his bottle.

Reno ordered two beers from the dark-haired bartender and passed one to Aerith who accepted it reluctantly. She didn't like the smell of alcohol, it reminded her too much of the passed out drunks she occasionally saw on her flower selling routes. They smelled like cigarettes too, which called Aerith back to her current surrounding. She wrinkled her nose as the acrid fumes stung her nostrils.

"Where'd your troopers go, Elena?" Reno questioned motioning to the blonde Turk.

Reno had to slope back on his stool to see Elena as he spoke. Rude, true to his name refused to lean forward for the other two Turks to converse. Aerith found it odd that he was still wearing sunglasses indoors, but then she noticed his eyes shift behind them. Aerith trailed where his eyes went and she noticed he was following the barmaid's movements. It didn't take Aerith long to realize why. The words gorgeous were an understatement if she were to describe her. She had long, silky dark hair that framed her face very nicely and accentuated her dark red eyes. Her body was very athletic yet buxom and feminine.

"They all went back to Shinra. No point in sticking around with the Turks once the mission is over," the blonde Turk answered bluntly. "I'm surprised you got one to follow you."

"Oh, yeah, this is Airen." Reno made a motion toward her.

"Your standards for company must not be very high if you're willing to follow Reno to a seedy bar," Elena said pointedly at Aerith.

"Then why are you here, Laney?" Reno interjected.

"It's none of your business."

"She's hoping for Tseng to show up." It was Rude who spoke up this time.

"No I'm not! I was just keeping your sorry ass company, Rude!" she half-screamed as she stormed off.

"Tch. Women, am I right?" Reno remarked looking over to Aerith.

Aerith made no reply and he didn't seem to care. He just chugged down his beer and ordered a few more while Aerith let hers become warm.

As the evening wore on, Reno and Rude were getting more and more intoxicated. Aerith's bottle had formed a small pool of water on the bar counter. As usual, Reno was the one talking. Aerith and Rude silently listened and made short responses or small nods to let him know they were listening. His topic of conversation was once again on women, but this time, Aerith knew the woman he was talking about.

"Laney's got a stick up her ass. I mean who does she think she is? She's just a rookie. Why does she need to be taking her job so seriously? I mean does she want to make us look bad or something? I tell, ya, one of these days…."

While Reno blabbered on about his subordinate, Aerith's mind wandered back to her mom and the burning house. _Did she make it out of there before they set it on fire? Could the Turks be really that heartless? No, they were just following orders…If she did get out, where did she go? Perhaps she was staying with one of her friends…_

"Am I right, Airen? Airen? Yo, Airen.," Aerith heard Reno calling her.

"Huh?" Aerith responded lamely.

"Quit spacing out, man," Reno complained as he took another swig from his bottle.

"Sorry…" she responded robotically.

"I said Elena just needs to get laid," Reno repeated.

Aerith was caught off guard by Reno's brash behavior once again. Somehow, his conversations always led to topics like these. She never really knew how to respond so she just opted for politeness.

"Oh, I guess so…" Aerith said.

Reno seemed satisfied with that answer and stayed quiet for a bit, gulping down the rest of his drink.

Aerith looked around and noticed that Rude was passed out on the table. His head was resting on the table and his hands were sprawled on either side. Aerith realized that she was going to have to keep up with Reno's chatter all by herself. The thought that Rude may have had the right idea by passing out entered her mind, but she quickly dismissed it, never having been a fan of alcohol.

"When was the last time you got some?" Reno asked with a mischievous smile.

"Got some what?" Aerith asked a little confused.

Reno stared at her with disbelief and burst out laughing. He then calmed down and shook his head at her naive response. He pat her on the back a few times a little too roughly, shaking her whole body.

"Hey, I've got an idea, why don't I try to get us some hot chicks to play with?" Reno suggested as he lazily slid off his stool. This was probably the last prank he was going to be able to pull on Aerith before he had to turn her in to Hojo so it had to be a good one.

Aerith protested and tried to hold him back into his stool but Reno pushed her aside with relative ease. She ended up knocking over her bottle over the counter. The barmaid let out a gasp and then a scowl of annoyance as she inspected the broken glass. Aerith apologized meekly and turned her attention back to Reno. As she gathered herself up, she realized that Reno had already made his way to a couple of girls. Somehow, the thought that alcohol worked like a haste spell on Reno crossed her mind. As she rubbed her shoulder, she mildly wondered if it also worked as a strength potion on him as well. Seeing the two women throw their drinks in his face, Aerith came to the conclusion that neither was true. Only the idea of sleeping with women gave him superpowers. Aerith rushed over to him quickly in an attempt to alleviate the situation.

"You, bitch!" Reno yelled at one of the girls.

It was too late.

Reno cocked his fist back, readying for a punch and swung. Aeith, almost seeing this in slow motion quickly pushed the girl aside and the left side of her face was met with Reno's fist. The impact of his fist made Aerith's head jerk violently to the right but she recovered quickly and shook off the pain and dizziness. There was no time to dwell on the pain.

"Reno, stop! Before you make things worse," Aerith protested trying to reason with him.

"What the hell, Aer—Airen?! Get out of my way!" he exclaimed.

Just then, Reno was punched from behind making him stumble into Aerith, knocking her to the ground as well. Reno stood and turned around only to be met by another fist sending him to the ground again. He was dizzy from the impact and the dozen or so beers so he struggled to get up. Suddenly, Reno heard another loud smack and looked up to see Aerith's form in front of him, doubled over in pain. The attacker was a muscular dark skinned man with a machine gun grafted on his arm. Looking at Aerith, Reno thought to himself, _Man, that must have hurt like a bitch. Why did she protect me?_ Just as he finished the thought, he saw the attacker kick Aerith in the stomach making her fall to her knees. He landed another hit on her before the bartended stepped in.

"Barret, stop!" the bartender exclaimed as she rushed over to them.

"These guys are Shinra scum, Tifa! They deserve worse than this," Barret snapped.

"But this guy isn't even fighting back!" Tifa retorted pointing at Aerith who was now coughing violently.

"Well, his partner there was 'bout to hit Jessie," Barret stated angrily.

"But he didn't. That guy you just beat up pushed her aside," Tifa said still pointing at Aerith.

"I don't care, that don't undo all the things Shinra has taken away!" Barret protested with rage.

"Barret, please! Just let me handle this…"

Barret seethed with anger but eventually conceded. "Fine, he said, "but you'd better be careful, Tifa." He then stalked away angrily, followed by the two girls Reno had unsuccessfully hit on earlier.

Tifa looked over to Aerith who was now groaning quietly in pain. "Here, let me help you up," Tifa offered.

Tifa walked over to the injured footsoldier and put Aerith's arm over her shoulder for support. She led Aerith back to the counter. Reno followed behind and sat next to Aerith while Tifa went behind the counter to mix up a drink. Aerith was still whimpering softly from the beating, which made Reno register the intense pain forming on his own back. He got hit twice while Aerith got hit at least three times.

 _Who knows how many times that asshole hit her with his freaking machine gun arm_ , he thought to himself bitterly. _Man, I'm too drunk to keep count…_

"Here, this should help a little," Tifa said passing them two juiced drinks. "I'm really sorry about Barret. Don't worry about your tabs."

"Yeah, becoming a punching bag for a free night of drinks. Seems pretty fair to me," Reno replied with heavy sarcasm.

Tifa seemed annoyed. "Again, I'm sorry, but Barret's right you know. Shinra is what turned Midgar into a dump. It's only natural for him to hate anyone that stands for Shinra," Tifa said defensively.

"Whatever, toots. Why don't you go back to your other customers and leave us alone?"

Tifa shot a glare at Reno but did as she was told and went on to tend to her other customers. Reno turned to Aerith and noticed that she had finished half her drink and had become quiet. She was hunched over with her forehead resting on the tabletop and hands clutching at her stomach. There was a bruise already forming on her face from when he mistakenly struck her. Reno knew the extent of his own strength and was sure that the hit he sustained from Barret was at least three times stronger than his own. He could only imagine the pain that Aerith was feeling now was probably unbearable for a small girl like her.

"Hey, Airen. Why did you do that?" Reno asked.

"Huh?" she replied angling her face toward him. "Do what?"

Aerith's expression was labored. Reno wasn't used to this. She always looked at him with a smile and bright eyes. He had seen pain in plenty of people's faces but it made him a little uncomfortable seeing it on her face.

"Why did you step in front of me when that guy was about to attack?" he said irritably.

"I don't know. I just reacted."

He furrowed his brows. "You…just reacted? You mean like how you pushed that girl away from me?"

"…well, I didn't want you to cause a scene. That's why I pushed her away but I guess it happened either way," Aerith replied half- laughing.

She was doing it again, trying to put up a brave and happy front. Reno usually played along, too, but not this time.

"So you didn't just act on instinct when it came to that Jessie girl," Reno half-questioned and half-stated in a serious tone.

" …no, I guess not," Aerith answered truthfully, not really understanding where he was going with this line of questioning.

"So why'd you react on instinct when that Barret guy hit me?"

Aerith blinked in surprise at his question. Reno wore a somber expression on his face. It was a little unsettling and it deterred her from lying. Aerith turned her head back to the tabletop so that she was facing away from him.

"I don't know…I thought you were in danger…and I didn't want to see someone get hurt again just because I was too weak to do anything…I guess that sounds stupid…"

Reno knew who she was referring to. Aerith had lost her birth mother Ifalna and was under the impression that Elmyra had died in the fire. She said she didn't want to see him get hurt. Did that mean that she saw him as someone important? Someone worth defending even though he was her enemy? Reno was beginning to hate himself.

A memory of Aerith saying, "it must be hard living a life where you're not given many choices" flashed through his mind. Reno had been casually speaking about his experience growing up in the slums and memories of him fighting for his next meal, but Aerith had surprised him by saying something so sympathetic to his plight. She didn't blame him for the choices that were forced on him. It was his job after all...It was also his job to turn her in to Hojo at the end of the night.

"No, that's not stupid…" Reno began slowly. "But it is reckless…"

Aerith didn't respond. She went back to staring at the floor through her lap.

Reno sighed. He thought maybe she was upset about how badly she failed. "Look, I want you to lay off that protecting other people stuff and take better care of yourself, okay?"

Aerith lifted her head off the table and turned to look at Reno with disbelief. He looked back at her with a genuine smile. Not one of his lopsided grins or smirks that she so frequently saw.

"I'm serious. That's an order. I don't want you playing hero."

Aerith couldn't help but laugh. He looked so out of character trying to be a nice guy. She was too used to Reno being a jerk or just a guy who doesn't seem to care about anything. Yet, there he was, smiling genuinely and worrying about her safety.

"The mission's over though. You can't order me around anymore," Aerith replied jokingly.

Reno shifted uncomfortably remembering all the ridiculous orders he had given her throughout the mission, and all the mean-spirited pranks he played on her. He definitely had not made it easy on her.

"Listen, Airen, I'm sorry about these past few weeks…about everything, really." He shook his head as he said this. "If you decide to sign up for another mission with me, I promise it will be better. I'll even take you out when we're done—to a real restaurant. My treat!"

Aerith nodded and smiled in appreciation. She didn't really understand his sudden friendliness and didn't really know if he meant any of it. Maybe he was one of those happy drunks she sometimes heard people talking about. Whatever the cause was for his unusual generosity, Aerith was glad she was able to see it. It reminded her that there was kindness in everyone.

Reno felt this was the least he could do for her after all he had taken away. He decided that he was not going to turn her in after all. He would give her back the little freedom she fought so hard to keep. He looked over at Rude who was still passed out on the countertop and put and arm under him.

"Hey, I'm going to take Rude back to HQ. You want me to walk you to the infirmary while I'm at it?" he asked Aerith.

"No, thanks though. I think I will sit here for a little bit. I don't feel much like walking really. I need to catch my breath."

Reno seemed unsure but eventually relented. "Alright. Goodnight, Airen. Remember to take care of yourself."

Reno bade Aerith goodbye and picked up Rude readying himself to leave. He made it to the door where he was met with a familiar face.

Aerith heard Zack's cheery voice from the doorway cry out, "Hey, Reno! What a coincidence seeing you…and er….Rude here."

Aerith looked over her shoulder and could see Zack at the doorway engrossed in conversation with Reno. Behind him she saw Angeal, an unfamiliar man with auburn hair, and with great alarm, the person she least wanted to see: Sephiroth.

* * *

 **Notes: Finally, Genesis makes his appearance. I think he's the last character to be introduced in my story, along with the AVALANCHE members. They will all be making second appearances at a later time, including the "unnamed girl" Reno was trying to flirt with.** **Also, this is chapter 7 and its titled _The 7th Heaven._ It wasn't planned but it's a pretty nice happy accident :D **

**If you guys are wondering why Tifa is at the 7th Heaven Bar even though Sephiroth didn't go crazy and burn down Nibelheim...it's...uh...because this story is slightly AU.**


	8. Enter the First Class

Aerith scanned the counter for her Shinra helmet and quickly put it on to cover her face. She then bent her head down in an attempt to feign sleep. Maybe they would just pass by her and think she was just some drunk Shinra trooper. She heard Reno say goodbye and the shuffling of steps from the four men. They passed her and settled into a booth. _Why didn't I just hide in a booth?!_ Aerith mentally kicked herself.

"I'll go get us some drinks," she heard Zack announce to his party.

Aerith could hear Zack strolling toward her now. He finally stopped at the counter right next to her, in Reno's empty spot.

"Hey, four beers, Teef," he called out happily.

"Coming right up, Zack," Tifa replied with equal mirth.

 _What? Did they know each other? I thought she hated Shinra_ , Aerith wondered.

"Say, how's Cloud doing?" Tifa asked with uncertainly. "He's not with you tonight?"

 _What? She knew Cloud as well? What is going on? Was this Cloud's girlfriend? That would explain why a lot of the Shinra guards didn't like him._

"Nah, he said he was going to wait for his roommate to come back from a mission."

"Oh…" she replied with what sounded like disappointment.

"Say, who's this guy here?" Zack asked changing the subject.

Aerith could feel herself perspiring. Thoughts were running through her head a mile a minute. _Was he pointing at me? Of course, he was, I'm the only Shinra trooper here! Is he going to make me sit with them? Maybe I can outrun him. No, I can't outrun a SOLDIER…plus, my sides are burning. Why does it hurt so much?! No, I have to concentrate…I know! I'll just keep pretending to sleep...please, just leave me alone…_

"Oh, he came in with that red haired Turk. Reno, I think was the name of the Turk. Didn't catch his though," Tifa remarked casually.

"What?! It's Airen! Hey, Airen wake up!" Zack motioned to Tifa. "This is Cloud's roommate, Teef."

Aerith tried to keep up her pretense while Zack continued calling her. She could hear the other customers telling him to shush. Zack was attracting too much attention and there was no doubt that the company he came with was looking right at them. Zack began shaking her whole body as he kept calling to her. There was no possible way even a drunk man could possibly stay asleep after such a violent shaking. He was also causing her a lot more pain with the way her body was wobbling. Aerith determined to stop her pretense and attempt to quiet him. Aerith figured there was still hope. She was sure that Sephiroth probably didn't remember her name and she still had her helmet on so only the bottom part of her face was visible. It was decided then. She sat up and turned to Zack.

"Zack, please quiet down," Aerith said in a hushed voice as she sat upright.

"Oh, Airen, I thought it was you," Angeal stated from behind Zack. "I recognized you when we came in but I thought you might have been tired. I guess you're awake now, though. Why don't you join us for a while?"

Aerith looked to Angeal in shock. She hadn't even heard him coming. How was he able to recognize her? He had never even seen her face before. Was it impossible to get anything past First Class SOLDIERs? Aerith was about to reply when Angeal suddenly spoke again.

"I won't take no for an answer," he said firmly raising a hand. "You skipped out on my lunch invitation so you have to make it up to me today."

"What? You two know each other?" Zack interrupted looking between the two.

As Angeal described to Zack their first meeting in the gardens, Aerith started to rack her brain for an excuse. She was stumped. Angeal was trying to trap her. She glanced over to the booth and saw Sephiroth and their other companion looking over at them. Sephiroth had a blank face while his friend looked toward them with curiosity.

"I'm sorry but I'm really tired. I should probably head back to my room and rest for tomorrow's class," Aerith said lamely.

"Oh, nonsense. There's a holiday tomorrow. You must have missed the memo since you were out on your mission. Come now, it will only be for a while," Angeal urged.

Aerith was feeling the stress and it was getting harder to breath. It felt like her uniform had suddenly become wet and sticking on to her like glue. She couldn't think of anything else. _Why was it so hard to think under pressure?!_

"I really don't want to impose," Aerith offered as her last resort.

"No imposition at all. I've told Sephiroth and Genesis all about you. Don't be so shy. They will be delighted to oficially meet you," Angeal insisted in good spirits.

"Angeal, how come you never said anything to me?" Zack complained.

Aerith could practically hear the death bells ringing. That was it. There was no way out. Angeal pulled her up on her feet as he finished explaining to Zack that he didn't say anything about her because he was unaware that it would interest him. Angeal led Aerith to their booth while Zack followed. On the way there, Zack continued to whine about how Angeal told Genesis and Sephiroth about their meeting in the garden first and how he was always the last to know everything.

Aerith tactfully stood behind Angeal as he stopped in front of their booth. Sephiroth and Genesis were occupying one side of the booth with Sephiroth sitting on the inside and Genesis on the outside. She assumed that Angeal would sit inside so that she would not have to face Sephiroth when they were all seated, but to her horror, Angeal did not make any attempt at sitting in the booth. He placed a chair at the front of their small rectangular table and sat so that the only seating options available were the seat across from Sephiroth or the seat across from the auburn haired stranger. Aerith waited for Zack to scoot into their empty booth but he just gestured for her to sit first. Aerith slowly slid to the inside of the couch and bowed her head, not wanting to meet Sephiroth's gaze. She felt Zack plop down next to her and sigh with content.

"Well, you already know Zackary here," Angeal motioned to Zack. "Sephiroth remembers you but I guess you two haven't actually been properly introduced. This guy here is Genesis. He's a First Class just like us."

Aerith winced. She didn't know if it was from the pain she was still feeling from Barret's beating or the realization that they were all First Class. She could only imagine how ridiculous she looked right now. She, a simple guard was sitting among four elite First Class SOLDIERs. She looked up in the direction of the two soldiers in front of her and nodded politely as Angeal was (re)introducing them. Genesis nodded in reply and uttered a generic pleasantry, but Sephiroth did not bother to nod in return or even attempt to give any indication that she was even there. He could have almost passed for a statue.

Angeal turned to Genesis and asked him to continue a story he had been previously telling before Aerith had sat down. Genesis started from the beginning for her sake and spoke about the events of his most recent mission. He spoke about the beasts he fought, the interesting townspeople he had come in contact with, and the type of Materia commonly found in the region. Aerith nodded along with his story and stayed quiet while Zack and Angeal interjected occasionally to ask a question or make a remark about his mission. They commented on beasts, fighting maneuvers, tactics, things she had never heard of. The difference in skill level between her and them was obvious to Aerith and she felt quite out of place. Why did Angeal want her to meet with them so badly? If the differences were so obvious to her, they must have been glaringly obvious to Angeal, but he just smiled at her politely in a reassuring manner. She inwardly sighed to herself and decided to make the best of the situation since it seemed like this mattered to Angeal.

Aerith observed that Genesis was quite informal but arrogant. In some ways, he reminded her of Reno. His body language was relaxed and confident as he spoke about the events of his missions. He would occasionally comment on some arbitrary things like the taste of fruits he came upon during the mission. His favorite seemed to be apples. Genesis did not hold himself as seriously as Sephiroth did but was nowhere near as easygoing as Zack or Angeal. Although he seemed to enjoy jokes, something told her that one made at his expense would have been met with anger.

"Hey, why are you wearing that stupid mask? Didn't anyone tell you it's rude to wear hats indoors?" Zack said looking in her direction. He was probably annoyed that he couldn't see her reactions under the guard helmet.

Aerith fidgeted uncomfortably. If he took away the helmet, there would be nothing separating her from Sephiroth's gaze. Zack made a move at her helmet and she shot her hands up in an attempt to block him but he was far too strong for her to put up a fight.

"C'mon, what are you hiding under that for?" Zack complained as he managed to yank the helmet off her head. "Woah, what happened? You get in a fight?" he exclaimed now that he got a good look at her face.

Aerith's hand instinctively went to her left cheek, which was still throbbing with pain. The other soldiers were looking in her direction, too and she knew that they had probably seen the bruise before she could cover it.

"It's nothing…I just ran into something during our mission," Aerith explained.

"What?! That looks like someone hit you," Zack blurted out as he shot his hands out to examine her face.

Zack was now cupping Aerith's face with both hands and turning it to the side so he could inspect the bruise better. Zack's face was mere inches away from hers as he gently brushed her soft cheek with a thumb. Aerith, having never been so close to a man like this before could not help but feel a little uneasy at his closeness. If it had not been for her wound, she could have easily mistaken this as an act of tenderness. Zack realizing what he was doing quickly withdrew his hands and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Heh, sorry, Airen. Sometimes you just look so much like a girl that I forget," Zack said sheepishly.

Genesis broke out into laughter.

"You're flirting with Shinra guards now? It makes me question your friendship with this Cloud friend of yours," Genesis remarked.

"Shut up, Genesis. It's not like that," Zack defended. "Ah, I forgot to get our drinks!" he then said excusing himself from the table.

Aerith's eyes followed the raven-haired soldier as he scurried back to the counter. He started talking to Tifa and Aerith realized that he was probably not going to be back for some time. Aerith turned to face Genesis as she heard him speaking in her direction, and from her peripheral, noticed Sephiroth looking away just as her gaze aligned with Genesis.

"Hmm, actually, you do look kind of girly," Genesis observed.

"Genesis, remember your manners," Angeal warned. "You know this is actually the first time I've seen your face, Airen," he now said directing his attention toward her. "You don't look anything like what I imagined."

Aerith looked down in response, not really knowing how to interpret that comment.

"It's nothing bad," Angeal continued. "You just don't look like a typical guy that would want to be a part of SOLDIER."

Aerith knew what he was talking about. It was the same reaction she had when she looked at herself in the mirror the first time she wore her Shinra uniform. Still, she couldn't help but feel somewhat annoyed at this remark. Angeal had said it was not meant to be an insult but it reminded her of her helplessness.

"Well, I grew up in the slums," Aerith managed to reply defensively.

"My, how interesting. You must be very resilient," Angeal said honestly.

Aerith became quiet again and she was glad to see Zack heading back to their table. He made his way back to their booth with the drinks but stopped at the edge of their table. The usually merry soldier wore an open expression of worry mixed with annoyance. He slammed the drinks on their table and turned his face toward the smallest member of the group.

"Hey, Airen, Tifa just told me what happened. It's not fair what that guy did to you. Next time you have to stand up for yourself." Zack began cracking his knuckles. "Where's this Barret guy anyway?"

"Calm down, Zack, tell us what happened," Angeal said patting him down to the empty seat.

Aerith looked away as Zack began telling the three SOLDIERs about everything that happened earlier without skipping any details. He told them about how Aerith had pushed Jessie out of the way only to get caught by Reno's fist. Angeal shot a look of concern towards her as he heard this. Even Sephiroth's stone like demeanor cracked as he arched and eyebrow and looked in her direction with mild confusion. This went unnoticed by her as she continued to look down at her lap. Zack continued on to describe how she darted in front of Reno to intercept Barret's punches and kicks. He finished the story by telling them how Tifa interrupted the fight once she realized that Aerith had no intention of fighting back.

"So that's what happened and now I'm going to teach this Barret guy a lesson," Zack stated as he repeatedly cupped his fist with his left hand, in an attempt to look menacing.

"Hang on Zack. Let's hear him out first," Angeal insisted with a hand on Zack's shoulder.

"Hear him out?! No way, he doesn't deserve that. If Tifa didn't stop him, he would have probably killed Airen!" Zack protested.

"I _meant_ we should hear from Airen why he didn't fight back."

"What?" Zack asked with confusion.

Zack calmed down and focused his attention on her. She didn't attempt to explain herself, which prompted Angeal to gently asked her again why she refused to fight back.

Aerith struggled to get her words out and fidgeted with discomfort. "I don't know…He just seemed so hurt…that Barret guy…he has a lot of scars…from...Shinra."

"So you decided to sacrifice yourself to appease a simpleton?" Sephiroth cut in harshly.

Aerith looked at him in surprise. It was the first thing he had said all evening. She didn't have a reply ready for him so he continued.

"You're such an idiot. You threw yourself in front of a Turk in a futile attempt to protect him. Did you somehow forget that he is your superior for a reason? He would have been able to defend himself against the onslaught of the brute far better than you did."

"I just…" Aerith faltered not really knowing how to continue. "I just didn't want anyone to get hurt…" she answered honestly thinking back to how she couldn't do anything for either of her mothers.

"But someone did get hurt," Sephiroth retorted. "Was it worth risking your life? What if that bartender had not stopped him? Do you think the brute would have let you live? You would have been killed and then what? Zack would act recklessly and want to seek revenge just like he is brainlessly doing now."

"Hey!" Zack cried out in defense.

Sephiroth shot him a cold glare, which piped him down, and then continued his tirade without skipping a beat. "Then there would be chaos in this Sector. You need to think about the consequences of your actions before you do something so idiotic."

Aerith could feel tears forming in her eyes. She looked down and away from Sephiroth as the wetness began to slide down her face. She began trembling when he spoke again.

"So you're going to cry again. You're never going to make it far if you keep showing your weakness so plainly. Perhaps you should quit the Shinra army before you—"

"Sephiroth, that't enough!" Angeal cut in harshly.

"Yeah, Sephiroth, what's your problem with the kid?" Genesis added lazily.

"Hmph," Sephiroth grunted as he crossed his arms. "I just hate weakness."

The whimpering cadet tried to compose herself and wiped at her eyes, trying to retain the little dignity she had left. No one said anything for a while. They just waited for her sobbing to cease as they listened to the distant chatter of some drunkards. Zack rubbed the back of his neck unsurely and opened his mouth three times to say something but could not find the right words. He eventually gave up and sat there awkwardly. Angeal frowned but made no attempt to speak either. Genesis was looking between the weeping soldier and his silver-haired friend who was staring at the miserable cadet with a neutral expression. Aerith was hiccupping softly now. Angeal feeling that the evening had turned sour decided to clear his throat and cut the silence.

"Well, Airen, why don't I walk you back to the infirmary?" Angeal spoke softly.

The now despondent cadet was relieved when she heard those words. The evening was finally over. Talking to Sephiroth made her feel so worthless. Aerith politely refused Angeal's offer saying she was well enough to walk back alone. Angeal insisted again but she maintained that she wanted to be alone for a while. Angeal seemed hesitant but eventually acquiesced. Zack stepped aside for her and patted her on the shoulder reassuringly and apologetically as she made her way out of the bar.

* * *

 **NOTES:** By the way, I just want to mention that the conversation Aerith and Angeal had about plants and stuff a few chapters back does come up again later in the story. Of course, this had nothing to do with the original game(s) but it's just part of my AU. I hope no one found that too boring, but based on the visitors to that chapter it seems like it was :'( That's fine though, I can't force anyone to like things—just wanted to mention that it will come up again. Anyway, I have most of the story mapped out (about 3/4) and little things that are mentioned here and there will show up later as well, like a cause and effect type of situation.


	9. Who is Airen Burrows?

**Note:** Aerith is going to be doing something here that might seem...a bit out of the ordinary. Don't just start calling out "hack!" or "h4x0r!" J/k, I know none you are going to do that (I hope). Anyway, when you read that part, I just want to remind you guys that in the game, Cloud, as a regular Shinra guard got stabbed and still managed to overpower Sephiroth and throw him off at the reactor. Now on with the story!

* * *

After the departure of the cadet, the rest of the First Class continued speaking and drinking as if nothing happened. Genesis began telling stories about past missions again, some of which Zack had heard before. The youngest of the group began to grow bored and decided to go over to the bar to get more drinks, but was caught in conversation with Tifa again.

"What the hell was that about, Sephiroth?" Genesis asked when Zack was out of earshot.

"What do you mean?" he replied coolly.

"What was going on with you and that kid?"

"Like I said, I hate seeing weakness."

"Seems like there's more to it than that."

"He's a very good-natured boy," Angeal interjected it. "You should be kinder to him, Sephiroth."

"Kindness will only encourage him to stay weak," Sephiroth countered.

"You are mistaking his compassion for weakness," Angeal replied calmly.

"They are one and the same. There is no room for compassion in the army," Sephiroth declared coldly.

"Just let him be, Angeal," Genesis cut in. "Sephiroth is just jealous of all the attention that kid is getting from you and The Pup," he said half-jokingly.

"Jealous? Don't mock me Genesis," Sephiroth replied irritably.

"You never treated The Puppy that way when Angeal introduced him to us," his auburn-haired companion pointed out.

"Zack made it to First Class. Airen, on the other hand, is the sorriest excuse for a soldier I've ever seen."

"So what? It's a decent change to hang out with a regular person instead of just a bunch of First Class or Shinra executives."

Sephiroth stopped trying to argue with him and Genesis became pensive for a minute. He had noticed Sephiroth observing Airen throughout the night, which was strange since Sephiroth had not bothered to look in the cadet's direction until the helmet was off. Genesis knew that his battle-hardened friend could not have possibly been studying the bruise—that was nothing new to soldiers. It must have been something else entirely…but what?

"Airen's eyes are quite unique aren't they?" Angeal announced. "I've never seen a pair with such intensity in color." He became thoughtful for a moment and then continued. "They seem to hold a faint glow…but not like our own Mako infused eyes. They look almost as if he were holding the Lifestream itself in them."

Angeal fell quiet in thought as he finished speaking. He mulled over the events of the evening as Sephiroth and Genesis looked to him neither quite knowing what to say in reply. He noticed their expectant gazes on him and laughed to himself. Somehow, he had always been regarded as the father of the group even though they were all the same age.

"What do you suppose Airen meant when he said that man had Shinra scars?" Angeal asked his two companions.

"Shinra scars…He must have been referring to the North Corel Incident," Genesis answered. "I didn't recognize the name at first but Barret Wallace is a coal miner native to North Corel. Apparently, since then, he has taken up residence here in Sector 7. He's been keeping a pretty low profile so Shinra didn't really have a reason to take him in. That is…until this evening. You think we should arrest him?"

"No, just let him be," Angeal said dismissively. "Seems like that's what Airen would have wanted."

"Hmm, that cadet couldn't have possibly known about North Corel though. Shinra covered that incident from the general public years ago…" Genesis mumbled.

"Yes, that was my first thought as well, but it couldn't have been a reference to anything else," Angeal said. "How do you suppose he found out about that? He couldn't have possibly found out from Zack. He doesn't bother reading up on Shinra's history even if he has access to their sensitive files as a First Class."

Sephiroth suddenly stood up and made a gesture indicating he wanted to leave. He had grown tired of the conversation and wanted to get some fresh air. Genesis and Angeal didn't bother to stop him as it was characteristic of him to leave abruptly. He made his way out of the bar without stopping to say goodbye to Zack who called out a farewell to him.

The tall soldier strolled aimlessly through the Sector for some time going over the strange events of the evening. He was thinking over what Angeal had said and ignoring his other friend's lame accusations. Sephiroth was curious about how that pathetic cadet knew about the North Corel incident as well. _Maybe that idiot Turk had told him in a drunken stupor_ , he concluded.

His feet ended up taking him to an abandoned park in Sector 6. As he continued to walk further in, Sephiroth noticed a small lone figure kneeling some distance away. Sephiroth edged closer with caution and saw that it was that damn mouse of a soldier! His back was turned but the elite soldier could tell that the cadet was in worse shape than when he left the bar. The weakling's small frame was rising and falling rapidly as he breathed haggardly. Sephiroth was about to call out another insult to him but stopped suddenly. He saw a Fire 3 spell shoot out of the small soldier onto the ground before collapsing on the same spot. Sephiroth stared in shock trying to process what he just saw. He knew that the guards were not given any Materia so seeing the weakling cast magic, let alone such a powerful spell was beyond confusing. Sephiroth waited for the crumpled heap to get back up but he could see no perceptible movement coming from him except for his slow breathing.

* * *

Earlier that evening, after leaving the bar, Aerith had made her way back to Elmyra's house only to find that there was nothing left of it except for smoldering ashes. There wasn't even anything that looked remotely solid that she could search through. Anything she touched crumpled into bits of coal or ashes. Bursting with emotions, she ran back to the park and cried herself out. Her body ached but it was her heart that felt the most pain. She was so tired of being too weak to do anything for anyone. Being filled with so much anger and frustration, she unwittingly stirred up something within her.

The Cetra felt an energy coursing through her body. It was a familiar feeling she felt whenever she was at her church. It was very faint then and it had allowed her to communicate with the flowers and even borrow their spirit. This sensation, however, was a lot different and seemed much stronger. She felt a warm sensation collecting on her hands. Aerith instinctively shot her hand out only to discover that she had cast a small fire spell. The dirt on the ground caught on fire then fizzled out into a low ember. Registering what had just happened, she tried out other spells and found that she was able to cast a few offensive spells and a barrier spell with relative ease. Unfortunately, she was not able to cast any healing spells on herself. It was almost as if her anger and anguish only awakened her dormant offensive and protective Cetra magic abilities.

Aerith continued to cast spells with more fervor as she recalled bitter memories of her past. _Why couldn't I have discovered these Cetra powers when my mother was in danger?! Why couldn't I summon up the power to protect Elmyra until it was too late?!_ The rage-filled Cetra continued her assault on a barrier she made, each time, forcing herself to cast stronger spells. Her insides were boiling as she pushed herself past her limit. Aerith could feel her heart constricting and her hands burning with a dull pain she could no longer register. Aerith was casting spells at a mastery of level 3 in a matter of a few hours, something that took even some of the most seasoned SOLDIERs months or even years to accomplish.

Aerith finally fell to her knees, exhausted from using so much energy in such a short span of time. Her casting time between each spell was becoming longer and longer, giving her hands and her insides time to cool off. She shot out one last fire spell and saw the ground coming closer and closer to her as her vision became blurry and finally completely dark.

* * *

Sephiroth stood motionless for a few more seconds before making his way to the figure on the floor. He looked at the ground where Aerith had been casting her spells and noticed a barrier spell that was fading away quickly. As it faded away completely, Sephiroth saw the ground beneath it was intact, or as intact as it could be in the slums. He then turned his attention to the unconscious cadet.

The elite soldier wasn't entire sure what to do next. Usually, in a battlefield, he ignored fallen foot soldiers and continued with his mission, but this wasn't really a battlefield. He sighed to himself before crouching down to inspect the cadet's hands. He noticed how small they were in comparison to his. He touched the palms with his gloved hands and felt that they were still very warm, but did not have any noticeable burn marks. He then noticed how pale the cadet's hands were…no, his whole face was unnaturally pale, too. Sephiroth immediately stopped trying to search for answers and grabbed Airen by the midsection. He was about to swing the limp cadet's body over his shoulder when he felt a fractured rib on his side. Sephiroth grimaced. He knew it was probably from the earlier encounter at the bar.

 _What the hell is he thinking? Why didn't he go back to the infirmary?_ Sephiroth thought with annoyance.

Sephiroth gently scooped up the small soldier and walked in the direction of the Shinra building. Not wanting to attract attention by taking the trains, Sephiroth travelled for nearly an hour on foot before he reached his room back at the Shinra building. The travel time gave him some time to think, but he found that he couldn't come up with an explanation for what he just saw...if he even did really see it. _Damn, Genesis and his stories!_ If his friend had bothered to tell a half-decent story, he wouldn't have felt the need to drink so much to chase away the boredom.

Once he was back in his room, Sephiroth gently laid Airen on his bed and examined a clock on his nightstand. It was 3am. The staff at the infirmary were gone by now. Sephiroth lifted the bottom of the cadet's shirt just enough to expose his stomach to examine how much damage the grunt had sustained. Sephiroth sighed to himself and busied himself by unclipping the foot soldier's gun, sword, and pauldron so he could lie more comfortably. _Hmm, idiot forgot his helmet at the bar,_ Sephiroth observed. _He could have gotten his tiny head beaten in if he ran into a monster or some slum thugs_. Looking over him again, Sephiroth noticed that a bit of color had returned to the cadet's face. Airen wasn't dying—just tired. Not that he cared too much. He did choose to walk back instead of the faster route by train. Sephiroth grabbed a knife and was ready to cut open the cadet's shirt to see the rest of the damage but stopped suddenly when his PHS rang.

"What is it?" Sephiroth answered coldly. A pause. "Mission? Right now?" Another pause. "Fine. I'm on my way."

The annoyed elite soldier flipped his phone close and sighed in frustration. He quickly dialed a number but was met with no answer. Sephiroth cursed under his breath. He dialed a second number hoping for a reply. He was surprised to find that he felt a slight sense of relief at having heard the line being picked up.

"Where are you?" Sephiroth asked with some impatience. "I need to you take care of something in my room." He eyed the passed out trooper on his bed. "You'll see when you get here…Do you still have a copy of my keycard? All right. I'm going on a mission. We will talk later."

Sephiroth hung up and put the electronic device back in his pocket. He marched over to the door and paused as it slid open. He glanced back over his shoulder for a brief moment unsure of himself and then walked out.

* * *

 **NOTE:** So any of you want to take a guess who Sephiroth called over to help take care of Aerith? It's fine if you guys don't—I'm still going to post the next chapter in a few days.


	10. A Secret Revealed

**Note:** Thank you, Sapphire Lazulii for taking a guess on who Sephiroth called :) You could have been right. The first person Sephiroth phoned _was_ Angeal but he did not pick up. Here is the second person ;p

* * *

The door to Sephiroth's room opened several minutes after Sephiroth left on his mission. Genesis stepped inside wondering what it was Sephiroth wanted him to do. He flicked a light switch on and almost jumped in surprise when he saw an unconscious cadet sleeping peacefully on Sephiroth's bed.

"What do we have here now, Sephiroth?" Genesis smirked to himself. "And just earlier you were saying how much you hated his guts."

Genesis walked over to the bed and noticed that Aerith's shirt was lifted halfway, exposing her stomach.

 _I guess, he wants me to take a look at his wounds then,_ he thought to himself.

Genesis got a dagger from Sephiroth's nightstand and carefully made a vertical cut on Aerith's Shinra uniform. He proceeded to make a horizontal cut across her sleeves before he began pulling the fabric away. He grabbed the fabric pieces and pulled them off her body all at once in one swift movement. He sat frozen as he looked over her now bare body, save for the fabric wrapped around her chest.

Realization hit Genesis as he focused on the tightly wound fabric across the cadet's chest. _Airen is a girl! Why is she cross-dressing as a guy?_

Genesis quickly snapped out of his shock and began tending to her wounds as he realized he still had a job to do. He would find out later. No point in trying to get answers from an unconscious girl. He assessed that most of the damage had been done to her mid section. He applied ointment on her and bandaged her up as best as he could. He somewhat regretted never having learned any healing magic. It certainly would have been useful at a time like this, but there was no point in dwelling on that now. Genesis finished up and covered up the girl with a blanket. There was nothing left to do but to wait for her to wake up.

With nothing else to do, Genesis paced around the small bedroom. He thought about the cadet's situation and wondered if he should tell Sephiroth and Angeal about her identity. _Hmph, why does it take so long for people to wake up?_ the pacing man wondered with annoyance. He would have to decide that later. Bored, his eyes began to wander and they outlined the contours of the girl's face, the only part of her that he left uncovered. He always thought Zack was quite dense when it came to awareness but he had to give him credit. Somehow, The Puppy instinctually knew that Airen was a girl.

 _I guess nothing gets past him when it comes to pretty girls_ , Genesis thought to himself. The impatient man stopped pacing and paused on the side of the bed where the unconscious girl's head was. He unconsciously moved his hand closer to her face and brushed it lightly. Upon contact, the girl's bright green eyes shot open in alarm. Being as brazen as he was, Genesis did not bother to retract his hand from her face and simply continued caressing her cheek.

Aerith attempted to focus her eyes on the figure stooping in front of her and tried to make sense of the situation. The last thing she remembered was being in the park and then she couldn't remember anything after that. Her eyes were finally able to focus and she felt something brushing against her face. _Why am I here with Genesis? And why is he touching my face like that?!_

"So you're finally awake, little one." Genesis said, finally withdrawing his hand. "Sephiroth told me to take care of you."

At the mention of Sephiroth's name, Aerith's body became even more tense which did not go unnoticed by Genesis.

"Don't worry. He's not here right now," he reassured her.

Aerith's body relaxed again and she tried to sit up. As she did, the blanket slid down to her lap revealing her bandaged chest and stomach. Aerith's eyes widened with horror and she pulled the blanket back up, covering herself. _He knows! He knows! He knows!_ Genesis suddenly laughed and she cautiously looked in his direction.

"Well, now that we are both caught up with everything, tell me why you're here," he asked straightening himself.

"Wh…what do you mean?" Aerith questioned with uncertainty.

"Why are you masquerading as a boy? If you want to work for Shinra, why didn't you just take a secretarial job? There are plenty of those."

"I wanted to join the army to become stronger," she said half truthfully. It was a half-truth that she had already used on both Cloud and Angeal.

"Well, you could have tried to join the Turks and gotten the same training without having to change your identity," Genesis quipped. "There are plenty of girls there, too."

"I…I guess, I didn't think about it," Aerith replied. Neither of them had questioned her reason before and Genesis was the first to do so. She had not prepared for this.

"Well, if that's the case, I can begin your paperwork and transfer you over to the Turks program then," he stated simply.

"No, don't!" Aerith called out.

"I thought so." Genesis had called her bluff. "So what's the truth then? And don't lie to me again."

Aerith did not want to tell him the truth but she didn't dare lie to him again. Her hands gripped the quilted blanket tightly. She would have to give him a non-asnwer instead. "I can't…I'm…It's complicated," she mumbled softly.

"Try me," Genesis challenged.

Aerith's heart sunk. If she told him the truth, she would be turned over to Hojo, but she also feared what Genesis would do if she didn't.

"I..ah..I'm..if…ah…" Aerith struggled to get her words out, not really knowing what she wanted to say.

Genesis eyed her curiously. Aerith noticed his questioning gaze and mistook it for impatience. She tried to speak again but nothing intelligible came out. She then became quiet and covered her face with her hands in defeat and simply waited. Aerith didn't know what Genesis was going to do but she had decided. Whatever was going to happen next was a better fate than having to go back to Hojo…at least that's what she hoped for.

The First Class SOLDIER suddenly started laughing again, but the girl refused to uncover her face. Genesis didn't understand Airen's actions over a simple question but nonetheless, he found them amusing—the way her face flushed when she was nervous, the way her bright green eyes turned into a dark moss color when she concentrated to find the right words, the way her body shrunk into a tiny ball when she gave up. It reminded him of…a prey, a tiny rabbit or mouse. Whatever secret she was hiding, it probably wasn't anything important and most definitely not to a First Class SOLDIER like himself. This girl was harmless so he decided to humor her and play with her for a while.

"Fine, you don't have to tell me anything right now," Genesis said nonchalantly.

Aerith timidly looked up at him through the space between her fingers.

"But trust me, you will tell me everything in due time. You will come to realize that I am very persuasive. Although your gender doesn't clue me in on who you are and why you're here, it's obvious you wouldn't want this little secret of yours spreading to others now, would you?" he said threateningly.

Aerith was looking at him fully now. She didn't quite understand what just happened. It seemed like Genesis wasn't going to turn her in to anyone or even do anything to her…but he was still blackmailing her.

"You're going to tell Angeal and Sephiroth I'm a girl if I don't tell you who I am and why I'm here," Aerith stated with understanding.

"Something like that." Genesis replied apathetically. "I won't do it right away, of course. There's no fun in that. "

Aerith blinked in surprise. The outcome was better than what she had hoped for. He said he wasn't going to do anything, at least not right away. Sure, Genesis did say he was blackmailing her but he didn't really specify when he would tell the others. Now, all she had to do was make sure she left Shinra before Genesis decided to spill her secret to his First Class friends.

"Well, you've had a hard day so I wont begin our little game until tomorrow," Genesis announced unceremoniously. "You'd better head back to your room before Sephiroth comes back and sees you…" He pointed at the blanket where her chest would be. "Like that."

Aerith flushed at the image of Sephiroth walking in on her and Genesis chuckled at her reaction. He turned around knowing she was probably inspecting the tattered remains of her Shinra guard uniform. Genesis went through one of Sephiroth's dressers and dug out a black shirt. He tossed it to Aerith and told her to wear it for coverage. She turned her back to Genesis out of modesty and quickly put on the shirt. Aerith was pleasantly surprised with the scent of the Sephiroth's shirt. It smelled like what Aerith imagined to be autumn rain and dried leaves. When she turned around, Genesis had gathered her items in a neat bundle using her tattered uniform as a rope. Genesis insisted that since she was recovering, it was probably best to not wear any armor or weapons for a while. He then led her out the door and walked her back to her room. She was a little wary of letting him know where her room was but he insisted on walking her back.

"Well, this is me. I'll see you then," Aerith said stopping in front of her door.

"Alright," Genesis replied simply.

He made no movement to leave or even attempt to give her back her bundle of items. Aerith assumed he was planning to drop them off inside so she dug a keycard out of her pocket and scanned it against the door. When the door opened, Aerith let out a small gasp. She was did not expect to see Zack's sleeping form on her bed. Half of his face was buried in her pillow and had an arm hanging off the mattress. The astonished girl snapped her head towards Genesis and saw a grin plastered on his face. _He knew Zack was sleeping here!_ Aerith deduced that Zack probably left the bar to visit Cloud and must have fallen asleep waiting for her to come back.

"Seems like there isn't enough room for you here. Why don't I take you to my room?" Genesis suggested with a smirk.

Seeing no other option, she conceded and followed him back to Sephirtoh's floor. Aerith kept a few paces behind Genesis and noticed that apparently all the First Class had their rooms on this floor. Genesis walked a few doors past Sephiroth's and scanned a card. He strolled in, placed her stuff on a chair and turned to Aerith. She was looking at the bed and wringing her hands nervously. The taller soldier smiled smugly reading her anxiousness. He then moved closer so that they were standing facing each other and Aerith yelped quietly as she backed herself up into a wall. He then grabbed her chin and tilted her face up while he lowered his head slightly so that they were looking directly at each other.

"Don't worry, although I wouldn't mind sharing a bed with you, I will be occupying Sephiroth's room for tonight," Genesis said smoothly. "I did give you my word. The fun doesn't start until tomorrow."

Before Aerith could utter a reply, Genesis bent down and brushed his lips on the side of her face. She felt her cheeks flush at the contact and tried to pull away but was being held firmly in place. He then withdrew from her and stared directly into her eyes with a mischievous smile.

"Sweet dreams, little Airen," he whispered to her.

Then without waiting for a reply, Genesis straightened up and left. The door closed behind him and Aerith let out a breath she was not aware she had been holding.

 _What did I get myself into?_ she worried as she roughly wiped her face where Genesis kissed her.

* * *

 **NOTE:** Well, this is the 10th chapter. This roughly marks 1/4 of the story's completion! Thanks to everyone who has been keeping up with this and I hope you continue to find the rest of my story interesting :)


	11. Avoiding the First Class

The next morning, Genesis heard Sephiroth's bedroom door sliding open with a mechanical _swoosh_. He looked up from the bed to see the man himself marching inside with some haste. The auburn-haired man sat up to greet him but noticed his agitated comrade scanning the room probably wondering what happened to Airen.

"Zack was staying with his roommate so I sent Airen to my room," Genesis informed Sephiroth, answering his unspoken question.

Sephiroth turned to Genesis and said, "seems like you went through a lot of trouble to trade spaces."

"Well, he's pretty intimidated by you," Genesis indicated flatly. "He would have probably wet his pants if he saw you barging in here like that." Genesis casually stretched out his arms and let out a yawn. He didn't get much sleep last night with everything that happened. It was close to 6am by the time he left Airen in his room. Glancing over at Sephiroth's nightstand, he saw the clock displaying the time 8:05 am. Genesis looked over to Sephiroth and noticed hints of dark circles under his eyes. "Seems like you were in a hurry to get here. Why is that?" he questioned his friend.

Sephiroth ignored his friend's question and instead asked him, "how bad were his injuries?"

"Not too bad, but probably quite painful for someone like him. He had a lot of bruises and a few fractured or possibly broken ribs," Genesis responded dispassionately.

"Did he have any Materia on him?" Sephiroth continued to question.

"Materia?" Genesis looked at him with mild confusion. "No, just a sword and gun. Why would he have Materia?"

Sephiroth frowned. "Nothing…never mind."

 _He didn't have Materia with him? How was that possible?_ Sephiroth remembered quite clearly that the weak cadet shot out a Fire 3 spell. That in itself was strange enough but adding to the fact that Genesis did not find any Materia on him was just bizarre. Then again, he had been drinking quite a bit, but he couldn't have possibly imagined it, could he?

"So how come he was in your room?" Genesis asked interrupting his companion's thoughts.

"I found him passed out on my way back to Shinra. The infirmary was closed by then so I brought him back here" Sephiroth answered coolly.

It wasn't the entire truth but Sephiroth wasn't too keen on telling Genesis about what he thought he saw, especially if it was just something he dreamt up. The added effects of his sleep deprived state wasn't helping much either. He recalled that Genesis was the type to remember his peers' mistakes and hold it against them, even going so far as to remind them about it at every turn. It was no wonder Zack was still considered "The Puppy" among the group, even as a First Class.

"Oh, I see, and I thought you hated him. I guess you had a change of heart," Genesis pointed out.

"I never said I wanted him dead. He's part of Shinra after all."

"That's true, but you cared enough to let him sleep on your bed," Genesis continued to challenge.

"I don't see how that matters" Sephiroth remarked with annoyance.

Genesis chuckled at his reaction. Airen was the first woman to have ever slept in Sephiroth's bed and he did not even know it. Genesis wondered what his reaction would have been had he known, however, he didn't want to spoil the fun so early.

"Well, whatever. I'm going to check on him. You may want to tag along so that he can thank his savior properly," Genesis announced as he got up.

Sephiroth did not argue and followed Genesis back to his room. Genesis silently smiled to himself. It was quite amusing seeing his usually apathetic friend take interesting in anything and even act defensively about his actions. He didn't actually think he would go so far as to follow him back to check up on the cadet.

The door opened into an empty room. Genesis noted that everything was neatly in place. The bed was made and all her stuff was gone as if she had never slept here at all. He found it odd and decided to check back at her room. Sephiroth followed closely behind. At her door, Genesis knocked three times and waited for an answer. He heard some shuffling from the inside but the door did not open. Genesis knocked a little louder a second time and heard silence. _How cute_ , he thought. _She is trying to hide from me._ Genesis gave a swift kick to the door causing it to fall into the other side of the room. He was met with the shocked expressions of a blonde haired trooper who he remembered as Zack's friend, Cloud, and Zack himself.

"H-hey, Genesis, Sephiroth! What brings you two here?" Zack called out trying to seem casual but failing terribly.

"Has Airen stopped by here?" Genesis asked brusquely, cutting to the point.

"Well, uh…I don't know, Genesis, that's hard to say. What do you mean exactly when you say sto—" Zack began.

"So he's avoiding me," Genesis concluded, cutting him off.

"Well, that's also hard to say. Could you define avoi—"

"You'd better pick your sides carefully, Puppy," Genesis warned as he stalked off, followed by Sephiroth.

"Phew, that could have ended badly," Zack remarked turning to Cloud.

Cloud looked at his best friend incredulously. "What about my door?!"

"Well, we can just file a report and get it fixed first thing in the morning," Zack offered casually.

"What about my stuff?! The other guards are going to steal everything!" Cloud pretested.

"Geez, Cloud, I'm not a miracle worker. First, Airen tells me to lie to Genesis and now _you_ want me to fix your door. I can only handle so much!" Zack remarked throwing his hands in the air.

"But you didn't even manage to do the first thing correctly!" Cloud complained.

Before Zack got a chance to reply, his phone started to rings. He held up one finger to Cloud as he excused himself.

"Yo, Zack, Genesis just kicked down your door!" Reno's voice yelled through the PHS.

"What the hell?! Reno, I need you to watch my stuff. I will be right there!" Zack yelled back before hanging up the call.

"I thought you said those guys were your friends," Cloud said sarcastically.

"They are!" Zack defended. "And to prove it to you, I bet Angeal's going to let us use his room for safekeeping! Let's go. Pack up your stuff."

* * *

Earlier during the night, Aerith decided that it was not the best idea to sleep in Genesis's room. She could not risk Genesis coming in with Sephiroth the next morning while she slept. Aerith knew that she would most likely oversleep due to her fatigue from casting so much magic in one night. Plus, she imagined Sephiroth would probably rip his shirt right off her the minute he saw she was wearing it. _Is this what Genesis had planned?_ she wondered.

Not wanting to waste any more time, she rushed back to her room and made quick work of changing her clothes after being sure that both Zack and Cloud were still asleep. Thinking it was probably not wise to leave Sephiroth's shirt in her room, she decided to put it in a bag as a temporary hiding place until she figured out a way to return it without his notice. To Aerith, Sephiroth seemed like the type of person that kept a minimal amount of items in his wardrobe so it would not be long until he noticed something was missing and probably unleash his fury on the culprit. As she grabbed a bag off her dresser, one of its straps got snagged on Cloud's sword causing it to fall on the floor with a loud clatter. Hearing Zack and Cloud rousing from their sleep, Aerith quickly stuffed the shirt in the bag and threw it into a random corner. Just as she threw the bag, the lights came on. Once again, she was impressed by the abilities of SOLDIER.

"Airen?! Geez, what time is it?" Zack called out as he rubbed his eyes.

"Airen, why are you back so late? What happened? Zack told me you left the bar before he did," Cloud chimed in with a yawn.

"I did...but I got a little sidetracked…" Aerith answered honestly.

"Oh, I see…um…Zack told me what happened at the bar. You okay?" Cloud asked with concern.

"I'm okay, really, just a little tired," she replied evasively.

"Oh, right, I'm in your bed. Here, you can have it back," Zack offered as he got up.

"Actually, I'm not going to be staying…I um…Genesis walked me back here and I just don't really want to see him tomorrow," Aerith explained.

"I thought you were avoiding Sephiroth," Cloud questioned with mild confusion.

"Uh….it's kind of complicated but I really am not up to seeing either of them. Please, don't tell them I was here. I will explain later."

"Well, alright. Take care then," Zack replied sleepily as he laid back down on the bed.

Aerith left quickly before giving Cloud a chance to ask anything else.

* * *

Angeal visited the Shinra gardens like he always did in the mornings. He began tending to his vegetable plants brushing off dirt that had accumulated on its leaves and clipping off the yellowing ones. He repeated this process with the flowers. Over the past week he had noticed that the seeds Airen had planted were thriving much more than any plants he had ever attempted to plant. As a matter of fact, it seemed even the sprouted plants Airen had tended to momentarily were doing far better than his. It was quite a mystery to him how this was possible. He would have naturally assumed that perhaps the small Shinra guard had an incredible green thumb, but that conversation they had about the energy of plants made him think there was more to it…

Angeal finished looking over the plants and began making his rounds with the trees when he suddenly found the little foot soldier curled up behind a large cherry blossom tree. He was surprised to find Airen sleeping at the garden of all places and was tempted to wake him but stopped upon seeing the peaceful expression on his face. A few cherry blossoms had managed to fall around Airen, circling him in what he thought looked like a protective embrace.

 _Even in sleep, these trees manage to respond to him…_ Angeal thought to himself looking up at the blossom petals.

Just then, Genesis and Sephiroth came into the gardens, followed by Zack and Cloud who were carrying a bunch of inventory. Zack was the first to make his way over to Angeal in his usual energetic way.

"Angeal! Can I keep my stuff in your room for a while?" Zack asked shooting a glare at Genesis. "Genesis kicked my door down and I'm afraid the other soldiers might steal my—whoa! What's Airen doing here?!"

Cloud mentally slapped himself at Zack's blunder. At the mention of her name, Genesis quickly marched over to the cherry blossom tree. Sephiroth followed him with less intensity and at the back of the group, Cloud followed cautiously.

"I don't know, I just found him sleeping here," Angeal stated simply. "What's this business about you wanting to keep your stuff at my place?"

As Zack began explaining how Genesis rendered both him and Cloud with no safe place to keep their items, Genesis walked around Aerith and knelt down in front of her while Sephiroth stood a few steps behind her so that she was positioned in between them. Genesis noted how the color pink seemed to suit her quite well. It matched the innocent look of her face. He picked one of the cherry blossoms and began to trace it along her face earning him a questioning look from Sephiroth. As the blossom graced Aerith's lips, her bright, green eyes shot open with alarm.

* * *

 **NOTES:** This chapter probably wasn't especially eventful but it's setting up for future events. (Hint: the next chapter is titled _New Sleeping Arrangements._ ) By the way, I'm curious on what length most people like for fanfiction chapters. My chapters are usually 2000-3000 words, which equates to 5+ pages. If anyone wants to weigh in on that, it would be really appreciated.


	12. New Sleeping Arrangements

**Note:** Did you guys know that you can actually change the font size, font type, and even inverse the background color of stories on ffnet? I never noticed the A+ A- A T| signs at the top. Apparently that's where you check off the options. I thought that was pretty neat. So for anyone who didn't know, now you do. I don't know, maybe all of you knew and I'm just slow lol.

* * *

Upon opening her eyes, Aerith saw the same devious smile that had graced Genesis's lips the night before and her heart began to race. She quickly stood up and took a few steps back from him only to be met with a solid form. Slowly turning around, she saw that she had bumped into someone. Her eye level only allowed her see below this person's face—black coat, bare chest, and crossed leather SOLDIER suspenders. Knowing fully well, who this was Aerith refused to look up at Sephiroth's face fearing that his face might have been screwed up into a scowl. Aerith instinctually stepped back again only to be met with another solid form. She didn't have to turn around to know that it was Genesis. He had closed the distance between them when she was backing away from him earlier. As her back made contact with him, she felt his arms wrapping around her causing her to cry out in surprise. Now all attention was on them.

"Genesis, what are you doing?" Angeal questioned.

"Didn't Airen look like a cute little girl sleeping with all those cherry blossoms around him?" Genesis said in a playful tone.

"Hey, what the hell, Genesis?! Back at the bar, you made fun of me when I said Airen looked like a girl," Zack cut in.

Angeal sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, I don't know what has gotten into the two of you but you have to stop this."

"If Airen doesn't want to be treated like a girl, he should prove to people how manly he is by bringing a pretty date to the Annual Shinra Ball," Genesis challenged, rocking her from side to side.

"Well, I can't get a date if you have me trapped like this!" Aerith quipped back as she tried to elbow him.

The redhead chuckled at her spunk. He loosened his grip, allowing her to get free from his hold and actually let her put some real distance between them. She gave him a mean look, which Genesis returned with a slight smile.

"What is this Shinra Ball anyways?" Aerith questioned brushing herself off.

"The holiday I mentioned to you last night," Angeal replied. "It takes place this Sunday but everyone is off for the week. It's one of the few vacations Shinra gives its employees." He turned to Zack now. "That reminds me, Zack, since everyone at Shinra is off, you probably wont have your door fixed until after the holiday."

"So….can we stay with you then?" Zack asked expectantly.

"I can't house all of you. I have enough room for one," Angeal explained. "I'm assuming since your friend Cloud is out of a place, that means Airen needs a place to stay for the week as well?"

"Wait, what happened to our room?" Aerith piped up.

"Genesis kicked down the door looking for you," Zack remarked. "He broke my door, too!"

Aerith shot a glare at Genesis, which only elicited another smirk from him. She didn't want to have to share a room with anyone but Cloud. It was far too risky. _Did Genesis somehow plan all this out?_ she wondered.

"Why can't we just stay at an Inn in Midgar?" Aerith questioned.

"It's against the rules," Genesis said plainly. "Shinra has a strict policy that states any member of the Shinra army or high executive has to live at Shinra HQ. I won't get into the details of why. Anyway, anyone who has not scanned in to the Shinra HQ within a 24-hour period is breaking a very important rule. Of course, that is unless there is a written form or a mission that excuses the individual from this." The redhead smiled again. "That reminds me, a few weeks ago, you were gone from Shinra for a period of more than 48 hours. That accounts for two transgressions."

Aerith was speechless. How could Genesis have known about her running away from Sephiroth's class that day? How could he have known she was gone for that long? The memory of Cloud saying, "every time we enter a room, our badges get scanned" flashed through her mind. _Did Genesis somehow have access to this information?_ Almost as if he had read her mind, Genesis responded smoothly.

"It is the duty of SOLDIERs to look over the weaker ones, so we have access to the truancy marks of all army members. Your first offense can be excused as for the second, you can make that up by assisting me on a mission of my choosing. Does that sound fair?"

Aerith nodded in defeat. She had a bad feeling about the mission he was planning but figured that was something she would worry about in the future.

"Good. Well, then, you two wont be getting a new room since the army is currently at capacity. I don't suggest you sleep without a door, as some of the troopers tend to play creative pranks on those who leave their guard down," Genesis explained.

Aerith and Cloud exchanged nervous looks both knowing fully well that the only friend they had aside from each other was Zack, who was currently without a room as well. They were also well aware that they weren't the most liked troopers so it was quite certain they would be targeted while they slept if they chose to stay in the doorless room. Genesis seeing the exchange between them smiled triumphantly.

"I suppose I could open my doors to one of you and the other could stay with Sephiroth for the rest of the week," Genesis offered.

Sephiroth crossed his arms but made no audible objection. Cloud silently waited for Aerith to decide since he had no real history or conflict with either soldier. Aerith did not feel any better about this new offer. It was between a red demon or a silver grim reaper. Genesis who knew one of her secrets and was currently blackmailing her for the others, or Sephiroth who she feared and had made her cry twice in less than 12 hours of actually being with him… _Why did Zack have to choose Angeal?!_ She kept deliberating as if this were a life and death situation, finally deciding that it was just slightly better to stay with Sephiroth. Although Sephiroth scared her and probably hated her, she knew that he would not be actively trying to make her life more difficult unless she somehow provoked him. Plus, the only time she would actually have to be with him was only when they were going to sleep. There was no point in being in his room other than that. Genesis was a different story, though. She would probably have to keep her guard up even while she slept!

"Uh…I guess I'm going to choose Sephiroth," Aerith finally said unsure of herself.

Aerith's now ex-roommate looked at her with surprise and uncertainty but she just returned a look that said, "it's okay." Zack on the other hand, seemed to have forgotten that she had bad run-ins with both First Class just recently, until Cloud nudged him on his side. Zack looked at him with confusion for a second before he finally grasped the situation.

"Oh, you know what?" Zack chimed in. "Why don't _I_ stay with Sephiroth and Airen can stay with Angeal? It'll be like a great bonding experience for us. What do you think Sephiroth?"

The introverted soldier twitched and made a face of disapproval that said a firm "hell, no."

"It's settled then," Genesis announced. "Angeal will house the puppy, the blonde will stay with me, and you will be with Sephiroth."

"My name's Cloud by the way."

"Whatever, just grab your stuff and follow me."

The currently homeless trio gathered their belongings and followed the SOLDIERs to their respective rooms. Sephiroth wordlessly led Aerith to his room and instructed her to put her weapons on one side and her miscellaneous items on the other. Aerith mentally noted how businesslike he seemed. There were only two categories of things for him, useful things for battle and everything else was miscellaneous. Sephiroth walked over to the items she placed into the weapons pile and examined them. A standard issued Shinra sword, a standard issued Shinra gun, and a small first aid kit.

"You don't have Materia?" her new temporary roommate asked with no emotion.

"I was never issued any Materia." Aerith answered simply while she absently touched her pocket where she kept her mom's White Materia. She reasoned that it was still the truth, and she really thought of it more as a memento.

Sephiroth silently observed the small cadet for any traces of deceit but could find none, however, he did notice that the brunette seemed nervous. Sephiroth concluded it was probably because the cadet was a nervous wreck to begin with. The questioning older soldier still did not have an explanation for what he witnessed last night at the park. _Did he steal some Materia and was currently hiding it? No, they had to be preordered and anyone missing Materia would have reported it by now._ _Did he somehow manage to cast magic with no Materia? Was that even possible?_ Sephiroth sighed in frustration. The most reasonable explanation was that he imagined it all. Sephiroth shook his head to clear his thoughts and just handed the fidgety Shinra guard an extra key card, which he pocketed.

The silver-haired host began to lay a blanket and pillow on the floor for his guest. Aerith watched him dumbly, unsure of what to do. It didn't seem like a two person job so she just stood there trying to find something suitable to look at or at least seem busy. No luck. The room was bare, except for the usual essential furniture Shinra provided. It must have been only a couple of minutes but it felt like an eternity of awkwardness as she stood there, waiting for Sephiroth to finish laying out her makeshift bed. Then there was a sudden knock on the door. Aerith hurriedly went to see who the visitor was and was relieved to see that it was Zack and Cloud paying a visit.

"Hey, Airen, Cloud and I are gonna get some breakfast. You coming?" Zack announced happily.

"Uh..yeah okay," she answered cautiously. The brunette glanced over her shoulder to see if Sephiroth needed her for anything. Seeing that he made no response, she exited rather quickly and followed her friends to the mess hall. It seemed her new roommate was going to let her come and go as she pleased. Aerith considered that maybe he just didn't care what she did because she was so unimportant.

* * *

"So what are you guys going to do with you week off? I'm going to hit the beach and get a tan for the Shinra Ball. You two wanna come along?" Zack asked as he stuffed his face with some scrambled eggs.

"Seeing the ocean could be kind of a nice change of pace. Count me in," Cloud added.

Having lived in the slums for most of her life, Aerith never go the chance to go to a beach before. She had only seen them from t.v. and magazines. The slum girl was curious about the ocean but knew she could not risk going with them. It would mean that she would need to wear a swimsuit…

"That sounds fun but I'm still recovering from last night. I think I'm just going to rest," the still severely injured cadet explained, tasting her omelet.

"Well, alright but if you change your mind, just let me know," Zack said starting on his second plate of food. "Say, you guys know who you're bringing to the party? I'm probably going to ask Cissnei or Elena."

Aerith suddenly remembered what Genesis had said to her. He wanted her to bring a "pretty date" to prove her "manliness" to him. Was he really going to let her off the hook if she did? She doubted it but somehow, the idea of not following his orders seemed like a worse alternative. He kicked down both her door _and_ Zack's door just because she didn't stay in his room last night…but where was she supposed to get a date?

"Why would you ask a Turk?" Cloud asked, looking up from his stack of pancakes.

"Hey, there are some cute girls in the Turks. Plus, they're pretty fun to hang around when they're off duty," Zack defended. "Look, here's what I'll do, I'll call them up and we can do a double date. I'll even ask them to bring a girlfriend for Airen," Zack suggested.

Aerith didn't protest since she didn't even know any girls at Shinra and she wasn't about to go hire a Honey Bee girl just to shove it in Genesis's face. She figured this worked out perfectly in her favor.

Zack brought out a PHS and mashed a few numbers into the phone as he chewed on a piece of toast. "Hey, Ciss, you and Elena got dates for the ball this Sunday?" He frowned slightly, making his toast droop. "Alright, what about you? Wanna dance with a stud?" He paused waiting for an answer. "Hey, that's harsh. I'm First Class, First Class!" Zack's face suddenly turned into one of shock and surprise. "What?! With Cloud?!"

Cloud and Aerith exchanged looks wondering what was being said on the other line.

"Fine but you have to dance with me once!" Zack said trying to sound like he was doing the Turk a favor. "Alright, a deal's a deal. No backing out." He finally hung up and his two friends turned their attention to him.

"Well, Cissnei said she wants to be Cloud's date but now me and Airen need one," Zack explained as he pocketed his phone. "Got any ideas?"

"I can call up Tifa," Cloud suggested.

"Oh, great idea. Here, use my phone," the First Class said, searching through his pockets again. "I'm going to see if Angeal wants to come with us to the beach."

Zack handed the phone over to Cloud and jogged over to Angeal who had just entered the cafeteria with Genesis. Aerith noticed that Sephiroth was missing from the group. _Aren't they always together?_

"Tifa, it's Cloud."

Cloud was on the phone now.

"Listen, do you want to go to this Shinra Ball thing we are having on Sunday?" the blonde cadet asked absently chewing on a piece of pancake. It seemed like he was more concerned with his breakfast than trying to get dates. "Oh, that's great, could you bring a friend, too?" He paused to listen. "Okay, see you then. We'll meet at the entrance."

Zack made it back to their table as Cloud finished speaking with Tifa.

"Tifa said she was free Sunday and she's bringing a friend, too," Cloud announced, handing the phone back.

"Cool, so who did Tifa say she was going to go with, me or Airen?"

"I just told her to come with a friend. I figured once she brought her friend, you two would decide."

"Wait, so she has no idea that she's even supposed to be dancing with me or Airen?" Zack asked incredulously.

"Hmm, I guess I forgot to mention that," Cloud said nonchalantly as he drizzled more syrup on his already soaked pancakes.

"Oooh, boy. Cloud, you've got a lot to learn," Zack said shaking his head, earning him a questioning look from the blonde as he stopped mid-bite.

"Well, what's done is done." Zack stated. "We should head out soon while the sun is still up. Angeal said he was going to come with us."

The trio passed the remainder of their meal talking about random things they were planning on doing at the beach. Zack was looking forward to meeting some girls outside of Shinra and Cloud simply wanted to go swimming. This was the first time Aerith really hung out with Zack in a normal setting, and she found that her first impressions of him were further cemented. He was rather easygoing and playful. At one point, he even stole a bite from Cloud's pancake, which he regretted immediately as he found the pancake to be overly sweet. Aerith laughed at his error and Cloud joined her in the laughter. In the midst of the merriment and talk of future beach activities, the two males forgot to ask about what happened between her and Genesis. She didn't mind as she was rather against telling them the details of last night and his attempts to blackmail her. After they finished their meal and Zack, his third plate, the two said their goodbyes to Aerith and she headed back to her new temporary room.

* * *

 **Random Ramblings:** By the way, the wiki on Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth says that they are all the same age. I always sort of assumed Angeal was way older than the other two but apparently not. In my story I keep them the same age but I make Angeal the oldest by a few months, then Genesis, and Sephiroth would be the youngest. I figured Seph is the youngest because of the whole Crisis Core thing where he's the perfected experiment while Angeal and Genesis have that degradation thing going on. It makes sense that they got experimented on first before they perfected it with Sephiroth…unless Shinra is really backwards for some reason…?


	13. A Conversation with Sephiroth

**Notes:** A few thank yous to some anonymous reviewers. I can't privately reply to guests so I'm doing it here. Thank you, Guest for your input and your enthusiasm. I had no idea people liked Genesis and Cloud together. Also, I really have no idea who the oldest one is within the First Class trio. I was simply going off of the wiki timeline.

Thank you, sf for clarifying the whole Jenova thing concerning the trio. I missed that or probably wasn't paying enough attention :/ I also really liked your added analogy about peanut butter. Your review was as toothsome as it was informative :p

With that said, I hope you guys don't harp on me too much about details like these in regards to my story. I'm mentioning this now because it just occurred to me that I did change quite a few things about the canon universe, including aging up a character who is going to make an appearance soon, as well as the original FF7 map, and the history of a couple of characters…Anyway, this is just a heads up on those things. I hope I haven't lost many readers because of this discrepancy.

* * *

When Aerith entered her temporary home, she almost jumped from seeing the First Class still in the room. He was putting her clothes into the closet. She felt the tiny hairs on her neck spike up when she noticed that he was examining the black shirt she haphazardly stuffed into her bag.

"I-I wasn't stealing it! Genesis gave me that shirt," Aerith squeaked nervously.

"Keep it." Sephiroth said with a blank expression.

The tense girl sighed with relief. He wasn't mad. She looked at the two bags she brought with her and noticed that he had emptied out all the contents and arranged them around his room. Aerith was thankful she was so thorough about her male disguise. While she was shopping for boy clothes at the Wall Market, she had decided to buy male underwear as well.

"You're not going to join your friends at the beach?" he asked startling her.

Aerith was taken by surprise. Sephiroth had actually initiated a normal conversation with her, and he somehow knew about Zack and Cloud's plans. Maybe Angeal stopped by to invite him.

"No, I was thinking of resting today…" she said truthfully.

Sephiroth studied the cadet's face as he said this and noticed his slight pallor and the dark circles under his eyes. The older man was actually surprised that Airen was even awake and standing right now considering the small cadet's weakened condition, and the fact that he could not have gotten more than a few hours of sleep. _Perhaps he is not as weak as I initially thought._

Sephiroth sat on a chair next to the bed and motioned for Aerith to sit in front of him. She hesitated slightly but complied after seeing the first aid kit on the nightstand. She stepped into the empty space between the bed and his knees, being careful not to touch him. Aerith slowly sat down on the mattress, avoiding making any sudden movements as if the man before her was a beast ready to pounce on her the moment she made a wrong move. When she assessed the distance between them, it dawned on her that they were sitting face to face again but this time, without a table buffer.

"Take off your shirt," he instructed with no emotion.

"Um…I'm kind of cold, is it alright if I just hold it up a little?" Aerith asked nervously.

Sephiroth looked at her questioningly but made no objection. Aerith lifted her shirt slowly, being ever so careful to keep it below the white fabric around her chest.

"Humph. I should have expected this from Genesis," Sephiroth said with annoyance as he looked at her midsection. "These bandages are wrapped rather poorly."

Aerith would have never expected anyone to find fault in a powerful SOLDIER like Genesis so witnessing Sephiroth insulting his first aid skills elicited a soft giggle from her. Sephiroth's eyes darted up to meet hers and she quickly ceased her laughter. _Maybe I shouldn't have laughed at his friend_ , she thought. His attention was directed back down at her stomach again and he began unwrapping the fabric, occasionally brushing against the bottom of her hand as he undid the top layers. Setting aside the used bandage, Sephiroth then got a container of ointment and began applying it on her stomach in smooth circles. Aerith couldn't help but notice how gentle his touch was. She half wondered if this gentleness was present in other aspects of his life. So far, she had only seen a stoic and intimidating side of him.

Being in such close proximity to him and in such a quiet room, the Cetra could now feel that Sephiroth had a troubled past just as easily as she had felt Barret's pain towards Shinra. The feeling reminded her of Cloud, but this was much more different and complicated. It seemed as though Sephiroth had an invisible wall up so she was only able to glimpse at the surface of his murky feelings. Even so, Aerith concluded that this decorated silver-haired hero was probably not the happy individual most would assume he should be. _How could someone so powerful and famous like Sephiroth possibly have problems_? Aerith wondered. Angeal and Genesis were certainly more relaxed than him even though they were probably just as powerful as he. _Did that mean that his troubles had nothing to do with status or power?_

Aerith suddenly snapped out of her thoughts when she felt Sephiroth's hand on her cheek. She recomposed herself once she realized he was just applying the ointment on her bruised face as well. She noticed Sephiroth's face had inched closer to hers while he continued to apply the medicine. The images of Zack and Genesis holding her face involuntarily flashed through her mind. It reminded her of a childish dream she used to have. Aerith remembered how as a little girl, she would wonder what her first kiss would have been like. She wondered if her lover would gently cup her face just like she had read in those fairy tales, or would he have kissed her passionately under the rain like in those romantic movies..? She missed those days when she could still dream. As she got older, she realized she would never be able to experience romance or love. Being a Cetra meant that Shinra would always hunt for her and destroy those that stood in the way. She could never ask someone to make that kind of commitment or sacrifice for her. Even familial love was out of the question now. Her second mother had dared to love her and their happiness lasted ten years…The wistful girl closed her eyes and let a soft sigh escape her lips as she thought about Elmyra.

"What are you doing?" Sephiroth suddenly asked interrupting her thoughts.

Aerith was surprised at how she had nearly forgotten he was there. She noticed that Sephiroth finished bandaging up her wounds and she wondered how long she had been spacing out. Lowering her shirt, Aerith began to think of a suitable answer.

"Sorry, I was thinking about getting some sleep. I must be really tired," she lied.

Sephiroth studied her face briefly and plainly stated, "you're lying."

The fibber was surprised by his blatant accusation. _How did he know?!_ His face remained impassive as he waited for her next answer. Reasoning that it was probably not a good idea to gamble with another lie, Aerith decided to tell him the truth as vaguely as possible.

"I was just, um, daydreaming."

Sephiroth remained silent and kept the same blank face.

 _Ah! What's that supposed to mean?!_ Aerith worried, taking note of his stoic expression. _Does he think I'm lying again?_

I was, ah, um, thinking about…um…love," she finally said with some difficulty. _Oh, this is so embarrassing…_

The flustered girl noticed Sephiroth studying her face as he did the first time. _Is my face really that easy to read?_ she wondered. The stoic man on the other hand was impossible to read. He always seemed to have either an apathetic expression or a slight frown.

"What about it?" he asked with no emotion.

"I was thinking about how much my mom loves me," Aerith said averting his gaze.

"Humph," Sephiroth grunted with a slight edge. He then crossed his arms and leaned back slightly.

"Don't you ever think about your mom?" Aerith asked looking back at him with genuine curiosity.

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself. She had never seen someone react so indifferently when it came to matters of family, especially their mother. Aerith mentally slapped herself. Why did she have to ask? He was probably going to tell her to mind her own business or worse yet, throw her out of his room for prying into his private matters!

"I have no mother," Sephiroth said coldly.

She was taken by surprise, not only by his willingness to answer but also by the answer he gave. She then became sad for him. Of course, Sephiroth had a mother, everyone did. She herself was lucky enough to have had two! The only reason he would say something like this was because he hated his mother or never met her.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that but I'm certain there are other people who love you very much," Aerith replied in a comforting voice.

Sephiroth flinched at the soft response but composed himself quickly. "I don't waste my time worrying about inconsequential matters like that," he said flatly, putting an end to the topic.

Aerith became solemn again. How could he say that? Of course, love was important. It was the very thing that made her go beyond her limits, the very thing that made Elmyra and Ifalna sacrifice so much for her.

"It _is_ important," Aerith dared to disagree.

Sephiroth's eyes widened slightly at hearing her declaration and her insistence on continuing the conversation. "Perhaps to someone like you," he said at length, narrowing his eyes.

Aerith could tell that he was starting to get irritated, but she persisted. Maybe it was because she felt sorry for him, or maybe it was because she didn't want him belittling the reason for her very existence. Whatever the reason was, it made her continue despite her fear of him.

 **"** It's important to everyone," Aerith stated firmly.

"I'm above it."

"How can y—"

"Because I'm different!" Sephiroth declared raising his voice.

The usually unemotional soldier's outburst silenced her. The conversation was definitely over now. Sephiroth stood up abruptly with the medical kit and strode over to a dresser to put the items away. Aerith sat still studying his back and noticed how his usually smooth motions became more rigid.

 _Being different…_ Aerith was very familiar with that feeling. Being different meant that you were alone. It was very lonely knowing that she was the last living Cetra but her mother's love made it so much easier to bear. She wondered what happened to him in the past that made him feel so isolated. Did Sephiroth not have a father either? Did he hate him, too? Did no one protect him or care for him the way her mothers did for her? What about a significant other..? Aerith was well aware that both men and women admired him, now that she knew he was the Hero of the Wutai War. During her slum days, she overheard many girls gush about how dreamy he was or how they one day wished to marry him. Even Cloud admitted to her on their first day of meeting that he looked up to Sephiroth. Of course, admiration wasn't the same as love and girlish infatuation wasn't either, but it was still something…

"I'm sorry you feel that way but…everyone should experience that at least once."

Sephiroth remained motionless with his back still turned to her.

"I don't know you very well so I can't possibly imagine why you feel you are so different from others, but I think that Angeal and Genesis care a lot about you…Maybe they even love you and you just don't know it. If they are able to look past your differences, I'm sure that others could, too. You just have to give them a chance."

Sephiroth finally closed the dresser drawer, but said nothing for some time and Aerith remained quiet as well unsure of what to do next. When he did finally turn to face her, his face was unreadable. Was Sephiroth angry that she disagreed with him? Or did he simply think she was stupid for being so idealistic? In the deepest depths of her heart, she secretly wished that he agreed with her on some level. The pain of feeling unloved and being alone was something she would have never wished even on her worst enemy.

"You should get some rest," he finally said reverting back to his calm demeanor.

Aerith replied with a soft "okay" and attempted to get off the bed only to be held in place by a motion of Sephiroth's hand.

"I won't be back until the evening so make use of the bed until then," he simply stated.

Without another word, Sephiroth walked out of the room leaving the confused girl alone with her thoughts. Aerith didn't really know what to make of Sephiroth. He was far kinder to her than he had been the previous times they met. He even showed a more vulnerable side though she doubted that was his intention. Sephiroth knew what being different meant, what loneliness was, what rejection felt like. If someone as powerful as he could feel like this, did that mean that even if she became stronger, nothing would change? Would she still be alone? Would it not be enough to protect those who are dear to her? With thoughts of her future swimming through her head and fatigue seeping in, it wasn't long until she drifted off into sleep.

Sephiroth stood still on the other side of the door feeling somewhat disconcerted. It was strange having someone try to….try to what? What was it that weak cadet was doing exactly? Comfort him? Understand him? Pity him? The warrior scoffed at the thought. He didn't need anyone to do that for him. He was above needing any kind of assistance, above showing any kind of weakness. With that last thought, he strode away in the direction of the training grounds. He had wasted too much time dwelling on that as it was.


	14. Aerith's Date

**Note:** So, in my last Author's Notes, I mentioned that I aged up a character. The character in question is the girl Tifa brings along. She is supposed to be 16 in my story, same as Tifa.

* * *

Aerith awoke feeling quite sore and tired. She had been running solely on adrenaline for so long that she did not register her weakened state until now. In addition, a low grumble alerted her to her intense hunger. Looking over to the nightstand, she was alarmed to find that eight hours had passed since she was last awake. _No wonder I'm so hungry_. It was still early in the evening so the famished cadet decided to grab some dinner from the cafeteria.

Upon arriving, Aerith cursed her luck. There were no employees working because of the Shinra Ball preparations. There were, however, plenty of vending machines and snacks available at the mess hall. The fatigued girl was not up for heading out into the city again in her current state so she resigned herself to eating snacks and energy bars. Grabbing a handful of snacks, Aerith made her way to an empty table and silently chewed on an oatmeal bar.

She noticed there were still a lot of SOLDIERs and Shinra guards hanging around the cafeteria chatting about the upcoming party. Some of them were even dressed in their formal clothes already. _Maybe they are just so excited they had to try out their suits,_ she mused with some mirth. They did seem pretty animated as they gloated about their dates.

"Hey! Nice suit!"

"Thanks, I spent quite a bit on it, y'know."

"Oh, don't tell me you actually got that receptionist to go with you!"

Listening in on the lively chatter, Aerith began thinking about who Cloud set up to go with her. Would Tifa go with her or would it be…Tifa's friend..? She silently hoped that _Tifa_ would choose her so Genesis would leave her alone. She could then go back to concentrating on her plan to…

"Oh, man, you even brought flowers? How lame can you get?"

"You're just jealous my date is hotter than yours."

"No way, she's one of those girls you bring home to show your mom, not someone you want to have fun with."

The ex-flower girl stopped chewing her bland snack and swallowed the coarse lump. With everything that's happened, Aerith hadn't had much time to think about her mother until now. She didn't know why she was trying anymore. Didn't she already lose everything? She had not felt Elmyra's spirit passing but it seemed very unlikely that Shinra would just torch her house and leave her alive. The point of staying at Shinra was to get stronger, to be able to fight off the grunts occupying Elmyra's house, and leaving Midgar together to start a new life. What was the point of continuing this mission if Elmyra died in the fire? There was no one left for her to—

 _-Smack-_

The stunned girl felt a wet and warm object collide with the side of her face. Snapping out of her trance, she noticed three of her classmates looking over at her with mocking smiles. They, unlike the other soldiers were still in their grimy uniforms. They looked like they just came back from a battle or a hunt. The other formally dressed soldiers glanced over to the trio briefly and returned back to their jovial conversations. This matter was not their concern. Aerith looked down at her table only to find that there was a severed monster's limb lying in front of her. She stood up with a jolt and wiped her face. It was still fresh with blood oozing out at one of the ends.

"Ha-ha, look at him freak out," one of trio called out. Aerith remembered him as the gruff man who had taken the exam with her on that first day at Shinra.

"You think he's gonna puke again?" his comrade commented with eagerness.

"Bet you 200 gil he faints!" the third friend chimed in.

Aerith realized they were trying to get a reaction out of he so she calmly sat back down and continued to eat her meager meal in silence as if she wasn't bothered at all. She wasn't going to give them the satisfaction. From a distance, she heard their laughter die down and turn into grunts of annoyance. Aerith smiled to herself triumphantly but her victory was short lived as she heard their approaching footsteps. She wasn't ready for a confrontation so she decided it was best to retreat and go back to Sephiroth's room. The nervous girl set her eyes on the exit furthest from the group and made a beeline for it. She reached the double doors but as she turned the corner into the corridor, she could hear her classmates' footsteps matching her own. Aerith started to sprint only a second too late as she felt a hand roughly grab the back of her head and slam it against the wall.

Aerith staggered from the impact and fell to her knees. She tried to get up, but was stopped by someone's boot smooshing her head against the wall again, making it impossible for her to see the position of her assailants. The trapped girl knew there was no way she could take on three guards with the little strength she had so she didn't waste her energy in struggling. At least not while her back was still facing them.

"So what, you think you're tough now just because you don't have a weak stomach anymore?" the guard closest to her spoke. She assumed he was the one with the boot on her head.

"There have been rumors going around saying that The Great Sephiroth has been giving you special treatment. Even letting you stay in his room," the second trooper added.

"Now why would he do that? What's so special about a little weakling like you?" her third tormentor asked.

"Does he actually think you are SOLDIER material when you can barely defend yourself?" the one holding her head ridiculed as he dug her head harder into the wall.

Aerith was as confused as she was scared, and the pain of having her head pushed into the solid wall was not helping. _How did they even know about me staying with Sephiroth? What special treatment were they even talking about?! Are they going to kill me? Do I have enough energy to cast a fire spell? Is it strong enough to take on three foot soldiers? What if they dodge my magic attack? Why did—_

"Hey! What the hell is going on there?!" a familiar voice yelled from one end of the hallway.

"Oh, shit! It's Zack!" she heard one of the guards call out before they all ran off.

"Yeah, you'd better, run!" Zack yelled after them as he jogged up to her.

Aerith unstuck herself from the wall and lightly rubbed at the injury on her forehead. The relief and gratitude she had for Zack showing up far outweighed the pain.

"Airen, you okay?" Zack asked placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks, Zack," she replied with appreciation.

"Who were those guys anyways? I should teach them a lesson," he remarked indignantly.

Aerith knew where this was going and she remembered Sephiroth's words. Having Zack seek revenge was not going to benefit her—not that she would have ever wanted him to seek revenge in the first place. It would just give those soldiers another reason to think a First Class was giving her special treatment.

"It's okay, Zack. I'm really fine. I'm just glad you came when you did," Aerith assured.

"Yeah, well, it's no coincidence," her dark haired friend said, reverting back to a less vindictive mood. "I've been looking all over for you."

"You have? I thought you guys were going to stay at beach."

"Uh…Airen. That was six days ago," Zack informed her.

"What?!" Aerith cried out a little louder than she intended.

"Yeah, you've been sleeping for six days. Cloud and I have been checking up on you everyday to make sure that you were okay. We only noticed an hour ago that you were gone."

 _I can't believe I slept so long…_ Zack's words sunk into her. Aerith then frantically looked over herself and noticed she was still wearing the same clothes she last remembered. She sighed with relief. Sephiroth did not bother to change her clothes while she was passed out.

"I told him to wait at the gate for our dates while I looked for you," Zack added, oblivious to her brief panic attack.

"Our dates?" Aerith asked with confusion, still gripping the hem of her Shinra guard uniform.

"Yeah, for the Shinra Ball. Don't you remember? It starts in an hour so you'd better get changed."

Realization finally hit her. She also noticed that Zack was wearing a dark blue suit, matching trousers, and brown dress shoes instead of his usual SOLDIER uniform. She wondered why she hadn't noticed earlier. He appeared more sharp and mature in the dark jacket and crisp, white button-up dress shirt. He even had his hair styled a little differently, making his usually spiky hair appear flatter like Angeal's.

"But I don't have anything to wear…" Aerith admitted slowly.

"Oh, don't worry about that. Genesis actually bought you a suit after we left the beach. Personally, I thought the one I picked out looked better but Cloud sided with him," Zack informed. "I don't really know how he knows your size but whatever. He said he was certain of it."

Aerith grimaced at his last, remark remembering that Genesis bandaged up her wounds that first night when she was unconscious.

* * *

Aerith was now dressed in a navy colored suit and white button-up. She was actually surprised at how well the clothes fit her, but then remembered that Genesis was the one who picked them out, and she became bothered by the perfect fit. She noted that he even selected a green tie that matched her eyes. If it had been anyone else, Aerith would have been flattered that he remembered the exact color of her eyes.

The blue-clad duo made their way to the entrance of the Shinra building where Cloud was standing with his back to them. He was wearing entirely black formal attire, making his blonde hair stand out even more. Unlike Zack, Cloud opted out of doing anything to his hair, which Aerith found amusing. With him was Tifa and one of the girls Aerith remembered Reno hitting on at the 7th Heaven Bar. The three of them were engrossed in conversation. It seemed like the mystery girl was the one doing most of the talking. She had medium short black hair and brown eyes. She wore a peach colored dress with ruffles that fluffed up whenever she gestured with animation. Beside the lively girl, was a more composed Tifa. She was in a black cocktail dress and matching heels. Although the dress was more modest than her usual attire, it still hugged her body at the curves, accentuating her ample feminine qualities.

At the sound of the duo's approaching footsteps, Cloud turned around and smiled to his friends in acknowledgement.

"Oh, it's you!" Tifa cried out with surprise. Her cheeks became slightly flushed.

"Um..hello again. Tifa, right? I'm Airen."

"A-ah, yes. Airen, nice to finally meet you properly," Tifa said composing herself. "This is my friend, Yuffie." She motioned to her shorter companion.

"So which one of you is the lucky guy that gets to take me to this party?" Yuffie asked cutting off the introductions.

"Lady's choice," Zack replied smoothly, striking a pose of cool casualness.

"I like a man with a little meat on him so I'll go for Mr. First Class," the bold girl declared.

"Damn it," Aerith heard Zack whisper under his breath. Then the young spirited girl came forward and unabashedly wrapped her arms around one of his toned ones.

Zack turned to Aerith with a mixed look of defeat and slight jealousy. "I guess that means you get Tifa."

"Huh? I thought I was going with Cloud," Tifa remarked with confusion.

"I'm going with a girl named Cissnei," Cloud stated plainly.

"Wait, you don't even know who she is?!" Tifa asked aghast.

"Well, Zack set it up for me," the blonde replied with a shrug.

"Zack did what?!" Tifa was facing Zack now with a half-hidden angry expression.

"Well, let's get going! Don't wanna keep Ciss waiting now," Zack piped up nervously, pulling Cloud along with him.

Aerith followed Zack with an unhappy Tifa, who was trying to hide her upset.

* * *

Six Days Ago…

Angeal leisurely strolled through the streets of Midar with his four other companions. Behind him, Genesis casually glanced over to a few shops as he tried to converse with a taciturn Sephiroth. Zack and Cloud, who were beside him were in better spirits. They were in a friendly argument over who built the best sand castle.

"Cloud, mine was clearly better! Did you _not_ see the moat?" the raven-haired man expressed throwing his arms in the air.

"But that's not technically part of the castle," the blonde countered firmly but in a more soft-spoken way.

"Look, if you want a rematch, we can go again tomorrow, but I am not taking this loss because of a technicality."

"Settle down now, you two, we're here," Angeal interrupted, gesturing to a boutique. He held the door open for the group. "They have quite the selection of suits so take your time browsing."

The two youngest soldiers stopped their competitive bickering and walked inside. Genesis followed the pair, but Sephiroth stood in place.

"Aren't you going inside, Sephiroth?"

"I didn't want to come here in the first place."

The older man sighed. "Sephiroth, we already went over this. If President Shinra wasn't making a speech, I would have let you stay at the training grounds. The whole week even!"

The unyielding silver-haired soldier folded his arms.

"Don't you want to set a good example for the rest of the SOLDIERs?" Angeal questioned and regretted it immediately.

He knew the answer to that, however, to his surprise, Sephiroth exhaled sharply and walked inside the clothing store, albeit, begrudgingly. Angeal entered as well and closed the glass door behind him. He caught a glimpse of Sephiroth quickly disappearing into an isle with dark colored suits but his attention was called away from the unhappy soldier. He overheard the other three being a little too noisy to the far right.

"Look, Blondie if you want to become a First Class, you have to dress like one," Genesis said casually, with a hand on his hip and his other hand gesturing to himself.

He was dressed in an ensemble that was very reminiscent to his usual attire—red suit jacket, black pants, black dress shirt, and a red tie.

"Cloud, don't listen to him, he doesn't even know your name. Listen to me!" Zack countered pointing a finger at his own ensemble of blues.

Angeal let out another sigh as he approached the trio. "The point of coming here was so you guys could browse and explore different options, not pick the first thing that looked familiar."

"Oh, Angeal, perfect timing," Zack exclaimed stepping forward. "Here, I got your suit for you." The Puppy handed his mentor a hanger with a dark blue jacket and matching pants.

"Angeal, we are soldiers. We have more important things to do than waste hours of our time browsing for clothing," the redhead expressed as the older soldier looked over the outfit Zack gave him.

"Angeal, I'm done," a low voice announced from behind him.

The raven-haired man glanced back and saw that Sephiroth was now in a black suit, matching pants and a white button-up shirt. _At least he added a bit of color this time,_ Angeal noted looking at his mint green tie.

Cloud took notice of Sephiroth's attire and turned from the group to select an outfit of his own.

"Aw, c'mon. You're gonna go with black?" Zack complained, looking at his friend trying on the jacket.

"I think it looks good," Cloud said examining himself in a mirror.

"Fine, then I'll pick Airen's clothes." Zack scanned a rack. "Hmm, let's see…Ah! Here!" He pulled out a dark blue outfit that looked similar to his own.

"That's far to big for him, Zack," Genesis remarked.

"Yeah? How would you know?"

"Trust me, I know."

Angeal cut in. "Shouldn't we let _him_ choose his own clothes?"

"He's asleep so he lost his chance," Genesis quipped. "Here, this one is his size." The redhead presented a slightly smaller navy colored suit and matching pants.

"That actually does look more his size," Cloud added examining the ensemble.

"Really? He's that small?" Zack asked incredulously.

Cloud nodded beside him. "Yeah, I think so. His uniform is a bit baggy on him and the top of his head only reaches up to here." Cloud put a hand in front of him that leveled below his eyes.

"Well, if that's what we're going to do, we might as well buy the rest of his outfit," Angeal said in defeat. "Sephiroth why don't you get another green tie for him?"

The reticent soldier obliged and walked away in the direction he came from.

"Why a green tie?" Genesis questioned.

"I thought it would be nice to get one that brings out Airen's eyes," Angeal answered simply.

Sephiroth returned within two minutes of his departure and presented a deep green colored tie, which elicited a smile from Angeal and a questioning look from Genesis.

"Hmm, interesting choice," the redhead remarked. "So we're done here then?"

* * *

 **Fun Fact:** Airen in Chinese means beloved, sweetheart, or spouse. Ai literally translates to love and Ren literally translates to person, so her _male name's_ literal translation is "love person," which in context translates to "beloved." Cool, huh? Her made up last name Burrows has no special meaning—just means holes or the act of hiding like burrowing. So yeah…in the spirit of the holiday (for those of you who celebrate it) Happy Valentine's Day!

Also, Ch. 14 posted on 2/14! Pretty neat coincidence :)


	15. The Shinra Ball

The group of soldiers finally arrived back at the First Class dormitories. It was late in the evening now. Their shopping trip at the Midgar boutique was over rather quickly but Zack insisted on spending several hours sightseeing and eating dinner at a popular restaurant.

"You two go and put away the clothes," Genesis ordered, handing him Angeal's and his own shopping bags.

"Why? Where are _you_ going?" Zack questioned.

"Just do it. The three of us have matters to discuss," the redhead expressed gesturing to the two older SOLDIERs.

"I'm a First Class, too, you know."

"So?" Genesis remarked unimpressed.

Cloud readjusted a container of food under his arm and reached for the bags with his other. "Come on, Zack. Let's just go find Airen."

"Fine," his friend said, grabbing half of the clothing bags.

Sephiroth turned from the receding pair and walked in the direction of his room. His two friends followed. As he stepped inside, he flipped a light switch on to illuminate the interior.

"He's still sleeping?" the redhead asked taking notice of the brunette snuggled in the large bed.

Aerith was on her side, facing away from the wall. She had a blanket covering most of her body so that only the top part of her face from the nose up was within view. Genesis stretched out a hand in her direction.

"Let him sleep," Angeal spoke up. "You disturbed him once already."

Genesis withdrew his hand before it made contact with the sleeping cadet and shrugged in response. Sephiroth paid no mind to the action and instead busied himself with opening a dresser drawer.

"Here, you can have this back," he said, handing Angeal a small container of medicinal ointment.

"You're done using it?" the owner asked extending his hand to pocket the item.

"I have no use for it anymore. It's just a matter of his own natural recovery time now."

Genesis looked between his two friends. It only took him a second to realize what they were talking about. "Really? You took a look at his injuries as well?" he questioned, turning to the taller one of the two.

"Actually, that was done as a favor to me," Angeal announced, drawing back the redhead's attention to him. "Remember how Zack informed us that Airen declined his invitation to go to the beach because he was still feeling unwell? I asked Sephiroth to take a second look at Airen since he wasn't planning on attending either."

Genesis folded his arms to his chest. He felt Angeal's subtle jab at his medical skills. "So you didn't notice anything while you were looking over the cadet?" he asked in a challenging tone while facing his other friend.

"Your poor bandaging work," Sephiroth answered.

The redhead exhaled sharply. "I meant anything else aside from that?" he raised his voice.

"Shouldn't we take this conversation outside?" Angeal interrupted, pointing at the still-sleeping guest.

Ignoring the older man's request, Sephiroth continued his slightly combative conversation with the redhead, but maintained his usual flat tone. "What was I supposed to notice?"

Genesis simply shook his head and smirked. "My healing abilities might be lacking a little, not that it matters since a warrior of my caliber would never need medical attention, but your observation skills leave much to be desired, which leave you at a greater disadvantage."

Sephiroth clenched a fist and narrowed his eyes. He was not in the mood for this as he was nearing on 48 hours of no sleep. Just that alone was cause enough for him to become irritated but adding up all the events that had transpired since was starting to anger him.

"You two need to calm down," Angeal said in a firm tone. "And we really shouldn't be talking in here when Airen is still sleeping."

"If he didn't wake up earlier, he's not going to wake up now!" Genesis countered, raising his voice again.

The trio waited for an indication of awareness from the sleeping cadet, however, she made no response to the outburst and continued to breath in an unchanged, slow, and steady pace.

"See?" the redhead stated casually, proving his point.

"Alright, Genesis." Angeal conceded. "Let's just move on then."

"So what was it you wanted to discuss?" Sephiroth asked calmly of the older man.

"Right." Angeal cleared his throat. "Do either of you know anything about the Ancients?"

* * *

The young group arrived to the top floor of the Shinra building where the ball was taking place in a large room with high ceilings. Aerith noted that there was even a stage with a microphone. _Was there going to be a show?_ she wondered with amusement. The room was lavishly decorated with marble floors and bright lights. Platters of food were lined up at every table. She could smell the light aroma of the food mixing in with the fancy perfumes and colognes from the well-dressed guests. Couples with pressed suits and beautiful gowns were scattered about the floor chatting among themselves.

Zack spotted Cissnei in a small crowd of her Turk friends and called out to her. "Heeey, Cissnei!"

Some guests looked over at the loud soldier. Although he was dressed in a more mature and serious attire, Zack still retained his loud and energetic puppy tendencies.

"C'mon Cloud, let's go over to her," he suggested, pulling the more low-key blonde along, with Yuffie skipping closely behind.

Aerith was fixed on her spot, admiring the scenery while the trio broke off from the group, leaving the two slum dwellers alone. Aerith had never seen something so extravagant let alone ever been at a party. Everything she knew about celebrations or balls were from films and books. _So this is what it's like being on the surface of the plate…_

From a distance, she observed Zack introducing Cloud to Cissnei. She looked like she was about Tifa's height. They were even wearing similar black dresses, but Cissnei had large brown eyes and copper colored hair. She gave Cloud a coy smile, which garnered no response from him except for an outstretched hand, waiting for her to complete the formal handshake. Zack laughed and clapped Cloud's back a couple of times.

"Hey, I think that guy is calling you," Tifa suddenly announced.

Aerith came out of her reverie and noticed Tifa pointing to Angeal, who was waving them over. She was not surprised to see that Genesis and Sephiroth were standing on either side of him. It also, didn't surprise her that they all chose to wear suits with colors that matched their usual attire: red, dark blue, and black. Genesis was even swirling a glass of red wine in one hand. As she approached them, Aerith noticed Sephiroth's mint colored tie stand out against his black attire and she subconsciously smoothed out her own green one.

"Hello, Airen. I'm happy to see that you made it," Angeal said warmly. He then turned to look at her companion and remarked, "I see you brought a date with you."

She nodded toward Angeal and then turned to her companion. "Tifa, this is Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth. They are all First Class SOLDIERs like Zack," Aerith spoke as she motioned to each of them.

"Hello, it's nice meeting you all," the raven-haired girl replied civilly.

Angeal smiled back politely and said a pleasantry while Sephiroth nodded in acknowledgement. Genesis completely ignored her and instead turned his attention to the shorter brunette.

"Seems like you've got exceptional taste in women, Airen. I guess you would know better than most how to appraise those types of 'assets'," he said rudely as a made a motion in the direction of Tifa's chest.

"Excuse me?" the buxom girl retorted with unmasked anger, which Genesis seemed unconcerned by.

"…I don't see _your_ date anywhere, Genesis," Aerith pointed out.

"I said that _you_ should bring one. I never said _I_ was going to," he replied casually and then took a sip of his wine.

Aerith tensed her jaw. She felt like slapping the glass away from him. He was just going to make her jump through hoops while he sat back and enjoyed himself. It didn't matter if she did everything he asked. There was just going to be another demand waiting for her, and there was nothing she could do about it since he held the upper hand.

"What's with the face?" Genesis questioned with a smirk. "Don't tell me you're actually upset that I am unattached."

Before she had a chance to make a reply, music started playing.

"The first dance is about to begin, don't be rude to your lady friend, now," he added.

Aerith glared at the redhead one last time before escorting Tifa over to where the other couples were dancing.

"I'm sorry about that," Aerith apologized once they were out of earshot.

"It's all right. I'm used to that kind of stuff," her companion remarked sourly. "Let's just try to enjoy the rest of the evening."

Tifa got into position without hesitation. She took one of Aerith's hands in hers and rested the other one on her shoulder. Aerith's hands suddenly became sweaty as she placed her free hand on Tifa's back. It became evident to the small navy-clad girl that she was positioned to lead. She looked over to some of the other dancing couples. Among them were Cloud and Zack who looked like they knew what they were doing. She noticed that Zack's movements were a little overzealous for Yuffie, as he exaggerated his movements and made his steps too wide for the short girl. Cloud on the other hand was more reserved and looked almost robotic, which fortunately him, Cissnei did not seem to mind.

 _Okay, I just have to strike a balance between the two_ , Aerith concluded. She observed her friends' dancing for a second longer and then braced herself as she tried to imitate their swirling movements. It did not go well. Aerith was tripping over her own feet and making a fool out of herself, which elicited laughter from some of the party guests. She would have been embarrassed but it seemed like Tifa was embarrassed enough for the both of them. Regardless of the situation, Tifa still remained polite and tried to hide her chagrin with a smile.

"I'm sorry. I've never danced before," Aerith confessed.

"Oh, don't worry, just watch my feet then," Tifa instructed, leading the shorter girl through the motions.

The novice did as she was told and after a short while, was able to adapt to the gestures and flow. She was suddenly able to fit in seamlessly with the rest of the couples. Some of Aerith's classmates were even staring in her direction with envy. She knew it was probably because of her dancing partner. Ideally, Aerith would have liked to have been dancing with her sweetheart, if she had one, but this was still nice for her first party. In the back of her mind, she worried what Rude might think if he were around to witness this.

"You know, you're not at all like the other Shinra soldiers that come to my bar," Tifa spoke up suddenly.

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Well…you're more like Cloud—a little goofy."

Aerith couldn't help but laugh at the comparison. It was true that Cloud tried to give off a more serious demeanor, believing that it was the attitude a First Class SOLDIER should have, but around his friends, he was more humble and even a little silly at times. It was most apparent when he was around Zack, whose gregarious personality brought out the reserved blonde's more lighthearted side. _They must be good friends if she has seen that side of him_ , the perceptive Cetra concluded.

"Thanks, Tifa. I hope we can continue to be friends after this," Aerith replied with a warm smile.

Tifa's face became sad and somewhat thoughtful for a brief second before her expression quickly changed back to a smile. She agreed, saying, "yes, of course we will be."

 _What was that?_ Aerith wondered. _Did I just imagine it?_ The concerned Cetra decided that maybe Tifa was just thinking about Cloud.

Looking over to the blonde, Aerith could see that he and Cissnei were positioned closer than before. Cissnei's general body language was open and inviting, however, Cloud's remained the same. Aerith wondered if he would still behave the same way with someone else.

"Umm…listen Tifa, I really appreciate you going along with all this even though I'm not your ideal date," Aerith began.

"What?"

Aerith lowered her voice to a whisper. "I know you wanted to be with Cloud."

"W-what are you t-talking about?" Tifa stuttered, to which Aerith simply gave her a knowing look. "I-is it really that obvious?"

Aerith shook her head and chuckled. "Don't be embarrassed. I'll switch partners with him on the next song so that you two can dance."

"Um, thank you. I-I never even got to apologize properly for what happened at the bar," the flustered girl admitted.

Aerith flashed Tifa a reassuring grin. "Don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault."

Tifa blinked in surprise at her kindness and returned the kind smile. They continued dancing in silence, enjoying the atmosphere and their newfound friendship. As the song came to an end, Aerith scanned the room once again for the blonde. She and her partner walked over to Cloud, who was now in a one-sided conversation with Yuffie next to a table of desserts.

"Cloud, where is your date?" Aerith asked.

"Cissnei promised Zack one dance so we're switching partners for the second song," he explained before he bit into a slice of cake.

"Oh, I see," Aerith said, taking notice of an animated Zack with his new partner. "Well, would you mind if I switched with you again? I think Tifa's dress matches with your outfit better than mine, anyway."

"Shure, thash fine wiff me," he said, taking another large bite from his cake.

Aerith couldn't help but giggle at the contrast of Cloud's serious demeanor and his round, cake-filled cheeks. He looked at her with a questioning gaze as if asking, "what's so funny?" but was interrupted from voicing his thoughts.

"What?! I don't want to dance with a shrimp like you!" Yuffie protested.

Aerith flinched at her remark. She was shorter only because Yuffie was wearing heels. Had they been standing barefoot, Aerith knew she would have been taller than her…but maybe only by an inch. Then again, Aerith was pretending to be a guy so Yuffie was right in calling her a shrimp if she was being compared to other soldiers.

"Well, you can keep me company while I try out the food then," Aerith said with some annoyance as she grabbed the uncooperative girl's hand. "Let's go and let those two enjoy themselves."

"Hey, let go! I said I didn't want to dance with you!" Yuffie protested, trying to unwrench herself.

The would-be-slightly-taller girl eventually released her once she reached a table of food away from the black clothed pair. She then turned to face the younger girl.

"You know, if you care about Tifa you should have just come along with me instead of making such a big scene. I thought girls were supposed to be more sensitive to their friend's needs," Aerith pointed out.

"What would you know about sensitivity?" The dauntless girl countered. "I remember you from the bar. You and that redhead were just trying to get into my pants!"

Annoyed, Aerith readied a quip but a very familiar and casual voice interrupted them.

"Yo, mind if I cut in?" Reno stood to their side so that they were in a triangular formation.

"Ugh, it's you!" Yuffie exclaimed pointing a finger at his nonchalant face.

"Hi, Reno, we were just eating," Aerith greeted calmly.

"I'd never dance with a pervo like you anyway!" Yuffie began, heatedly. "You're lucky Tifa stopped Barret when she did."

Reno paid no attention to her chatter. He languidly extended an arm between the two girls and reached for some food on the table. He selected the crunchiest looking snack and munched on it loudly while Yuffie continued to berate him.

"He was just getting started. You two would have been complete mulch by the time—"

"I wasn't talking to you, pipsqueak," Reno finally cut in. He then turned to face Aerith and said, "yo, let's dance."

"Wha—"

The redhead shoved one of the h'orderves into Yuffie's mouth to cease her chatter and grabbed Aerith's hand, leading her to a different section of the dance floor. She glanced back at Yuffie just in time to see her spit out the half-eaten food and cough in an exaggerated manner. Aerith's attention was brought back to the Turk when she felt his hand on her lower back. His other hand was still holding hers. He then started moving to the rhythm of the song without waiting for her.

"Reno, what are you doing?" Aerith questioned, confused by his actions.

"I'm dancing, yo" Reno replied casually.

"But why are you dancing with me? There aren't any other guys dancing together."

He neglected to answer her and instead twirled her to the cue of the song. This was probably the strangest thing Reno had her participate in when it was in context to their current circumstance. Although, knowing him, it was not uncharacteristic of the Turk to do something like this, so Aerith didn't resist him much and complied in taking on the female part. Her girlish side had to admit that it was actually quite fun dancing with him like this. Reno was definitely not her ideal partner, but at least she got to be twirled around, which gave her a slight rush of excitement. They continued dancing like this until the music began to soften into a slow song. Reno suddenly moved closer to her until they were just mere inches apart. He lowered his head so that his mouth was right above her ear.

"Your mom is still alive," he whispered.

Aerith looked up at him with wide eyes. _He knows who I am!_ Instinctively, she scanned the room for signs of danger, her eyes darting frantically over to the exits.

"Don't stop. Just keep dancing," Reno warned. He continued to relay more information in a hushed voice. "She relocated to Kalm. President Shinra is sending us on a long mission tomorrow to escort his son to Junon so this was my only chance to tell you before I left. I'll take you to her when I get back."

"I don't understand. Why are you telling me this?" Aerith whispered back. She didn't know if he was telling the truth or how he even found out about her.

Reno smiled smoothly. "Someone like you should deserve a happy ending even if you're not a princess."

"You don't really mean that…"

He sighed. Aerith felt the air tickle her neck and ear. She could smell his breath, which was a mixture of something fruity and sweet like the cake Cloud was eating. Judging from this, Reno was probably not drunk and was actually speaking to her soberly.

"Listen, I've done a lot of shit over the years and I just want to do something decent for once," he said with some difficulty. "I mean it, you do deserve better."

Wide green eyes met with sincere aquamarine ones for several seconds. It was long enough for Aerith to realize that he was being serious. She looked away first, feeling guilty.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you earlier…"

"Just don't do anything stupid until I get back, okay?" Reno said in his usual playful voice.

Aerith nodded in understanding. She couldn't believe it. Just as her days at Shinra were becoming more and more unbearable, her reason for continuing had been renewed. Her mom was still alive and Reno said he would reunite them. He said that her mom was at Kalm. She knew it was a town just outside of Midgar. There was so much happiness awaiting her. It was going to be her first time leaving the city, too! Aerith imagined running into her mom's open arms and telling her all about Shinra and about how she joined the army in an attempt to rescue her. She imagined how her mom would gently lecture her for doing something so dangerous and chide her about her short hair. Her mom would then give her one of her famous momma bear hugs and—

"Yo, Aerith get a grip!" Reno whispered. "I don't want people to start thinking I'm having an affair with a Shinra grunt."

The blissful girl opened her eyes, not realizing she had closed them. The music had stopped and she was holding Reno in a tight hug…the one she had meant to give her mom... Aerith quickly distanced herself from him and rubbed her arm in embarrassment.

"Oh. Sorry, she said sheepishly. I'm just so happy."

"Yeah, yeah. Just remember to lay low until I get back," the Turk warned. He then looked across the room to where Rude was positioned. "Anyway, I gotta go now. Take care of yourself."

Aerith nodded and watched as Reno walked over to Rude, who was standing by an elevator. They both stepped inside. As the elevators began to close, Rude made a nod towards her and Reno gave her a wink with a two-finger salute. _I can't believe I was able to find a friend in an enemy. Everything is going to be okay after all._

She suddenly felt herself getting shoved forward. "You're such a jerk!" Yuffie exclaimed from behind her.

Aerith caught herself before falling and turned to face the irate girl.

"You did that on purpose. You chose a guy over me!" Yuffie pouted, crossing her arms across her chest.

"But you said you didn't want to dance with me anyway."

"It's still no reason to insult a lady!" Yuffie objected, stamping her heel.

Aerith sighed. "Look, Yuffie, it wasn't my intention to insult you. Would you feel better if we danced together for this next song?"

"I don't know," Yuffie replied haughtily as she turned her face away in defiance. "I'm still very upset about—"

"Mind if I have this dance?" Genesis asked smoothly.

Aerith almost jumped in surprise, as Genesis seemed to have appeared out of the blue.

"Ah, perfect timing. I'm going to go with this guy here while _you_ sit by the sidelines," Yuffie remarked snobbishly. "Let's see how you like the taste of your own medicine!"

Genesis looked at Yuffie with a confused expression. "I wasn't talking to you."

"Wait, what?!" Yuffie exclaimed.

Genesis ignored her and grabbed Aerith's wrist, leading her away to a spot closer to Angeal and Sephiroth.

"H–Hey! You can't do this to me again!" Yuffie cried out to the receding pair.

* * *

 **Request:** So I am at somewhat of a crossroad here. Before I get to that, have any of you figured out what the pairing is going to be? It has come to my attention that most stories just outright put it in the summary. I avoided doing that because, I don't know, I thought maybe it was a spoiler or something. Anyway, so is it better to just let people know from the start what they should be expecting or is it better to leave it up in the air and let people see how the story and character evolve? Please let me know either in a PM, review or through the poll I created on my profile. By the way, for those of you who are shy, the poll is confidential so I can't tell who is taking part in it and neither can other users, however, FFnet only allows registered users to vote.


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